


Is this our second chance?

by Caitlin141414



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: AU- No crisis, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Set after 5x08
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:21:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21696838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caitlin141414/pseuds/Caitlin141414
Summary: What if Cadmus had cloned Kara and Lena to create Kon-El or Conner. Of course, they only find this out at the worst possible time just after their "friendship" comes crashing down.Set two weeks after 5x08.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor
Comments: 125
Kudos: 1165





	1. The boy found in the ashes

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome!  
> I know Conner is meant to be the clone of Superman and Lex and a teenager, but this is way more fun to have him be a toddler and Supercorp because it's way more fun.  
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy!!!

For the first time in a long time, Lena wasn’t thinking about Ka- her. She’d been keeping herself busy for the last two weeks after Project Non-Nocere was foiled, Lena had taken to trying to untangle all of her family’s various assets across the world. Despite, Lena having to dig through her very painful past, it was better than the alternative. It was better than sitting in her apartment with a glass of scotch and thinking about her, she’d done that enough already and one moment of weakness after her plan failed was all she was allowing herself. She couldn’t miss her if she did then Lena would end up falling for that smile again and forgiving her, she couldn’t allow herself to do that again. She wasn’t going to be made a fool again.

She’d been digging into Cadmus and everything her mother was up to three years ago, she was leaving Lex’s things until later. She hadn’t seen her mother since Lex’s death, and she didn’t intend too; her mother was as bad as the rest of her so-called friends. She’d been monitoring this one lab; it was one of the few that the government and DEO hadn’t found after Cadmus was defeated. It seemed to still be active.

Well, until early this morning. At preciously 4.06 am, the lab went up in flames and burnt down. Lena, who was awake at the time, called her security team because she doubted it would be undefended. Lena stared at the signal watch on her desk. Lena knew it was only logical to bring it just in case she really was in danger, Supergirl would still come to save her despite everything. But wearing it meant she still needed her, that in some way she hadn’t let go of their friendship.

Lena took the watch and headed to the lab.

The lab was still smouldering when they arrived, but it was basically rubble. It seemed to be no sound of life, apart from the faint sound of a child’s cry. She sent her people to look into it, just in case it was some type of trap. After a couple of minutes, the cry got much louder and her team hadn’t returned, Lena rolled her eyes and walked towards the sound.

What Lena saw took her breath away. The building around them was in burnt to the ground and in the middle of it was a small child screaming his lungs out. He was covered in ash; his hair was jet black and his head was down. Lena took a step towards the boy, “Miss. Luthor, I’d be caref-“ She cut off one of her security guards with a pointed glare, he quickly shut his mouth.

The boy looked up and when his bright blue eyes met Lena’s he stopped crying. He was staring at her in wonderment with his head tilted, there was something vaguely familiar about the way he was looking at her. When she reached him, she bent down, so they were closer to eye level. His eyes were still watery and he was sniffing, but at least he wasn’t crying anymore. “I’m not going to hurt you.” She reassured the boy and held out a hand to him.

His blue eyes nervously darted around to the men surrounding Lena, then back to her hand. He was clearly unsure about taking it. So, Lena quickly sent her security team away, silencing their protests with a sharp look. Once they were out of sight, he took her hand and gave her a small smile. “My name is Lena.” She said as softly as possible.

“Lena.” He repeated concentrating on each letter. His face lit up once he was done.

She nodded with a smile. “Do you have a name?” She asked the boy, he just shook his head, his thick black hair moving when he did. He had a frown and his nose crinkled again, Lena once again felt that familiarity at his expression. “That’s okay.” She reassured trying to keep the frown off his face. “Can I take you somewhere safe?”

“Safe?” He questioned looking nervous.

“I promise.” He nodded and when Lena smiled at him, he smiled back. “I’m going to carry you there. Is that okay?” She said making sure that he was still comfortable. He nodded and allowed Lena to pick him up. She walked back to the car with the boy on her hip. Despite, only just meeting him, Lena felt the need to protect him. Maybe it was because he was scared and alone, just like she was deep down but Lena knew she wouldn’t let anything happen to this boy.

* * *

She decided to take him back to her apartment to carry out various testing to figure out who he was. Her various scans showed that he was a perfectly healthy 3-year-old boy, but he definitely wasn’t fully human. Not that Lena was surprised that this piece of information. He was definitely nervous around other people and when Lena left the room for a few moments, he began to cry.

She’d sent Jess to go get some things for the boy to play with, however, in the meantime, he was sat watching cartoons. His eyes were wide as the bright colours flashed in front of his eyes. He had already eaten an inhumane amount of food. Lena was watching him with a small smile on her lips. It was nice to see someone who's heart was pure for once.

She didn’t know the first thing about looking after a toddler. She thought about calling Sam for advice, but after considering the idea she decided not to. She knew that Sam would want her to explain why and Lena didn’t know how to exactly explain her current situation. She’d done alright up to now, but he was pretty easy up to now. He was happy when Lena was around and was especially so when he was eating or watching those cartoons.

However, she knew that he needed a name. She walked up to him and sat on the couch next to her. He looked up at her and grinned, Lena felt her heart melt. There was something so familiar about him and the effect which he seemed to have over her. “Hi.” He said cheerfully, he'd came out of his shell a bit more since they arrived at her apartment. “The cat hasn’t gotten the mouse yet.” He told her pointing at the screen, he spoke with the wonderment that only a child could muster.

“Do you really not know your name?” She asked trying not to upset him again. He looked at her and shook his head. She didn’t know the life which he lived before what happened at the lab, but her gut told her it was nothing good. However, she’d figure it out and after that, she’ll take whatever action is necessary. In the meantime, she wanted him to feel comfortable and happy. If her mother was behind this, she owed the boy that much. “Well, how about we give you one?” He fully turned to look at her, crossing his legs as he did. He enthusiastically nodded his head. Lena thought about it for a while before she decided on a name. “How about Conner?”

“Con-ner.” He said thinking hard over the name. After he was done, he gave her a megawatt smile, so bright it was like looking at the sun. “Conner.” He repeated and Lena knew that she chose right. At least, she hoped that she did, after all, she knew nothing about his past but her gut was telling her that she was right and she was a genius after all. 

She left him alone to watch his cartoons and went to digging through her mother’s old papers to try and find any mention of Conner. She was wondering about why he was in that lab and what that meant. If she had to guess, she was pretty sure that he was being experimented on. The thought of which made her heart hurt. He was so sweet and the thought of anyone hurting him made Lena’s blood boil. Maybe it was the fact that throughout her life all of that innocence which Lena once had been destroyed by everyone she ever trusted; her father, her adopted mother, Lex, Andrea and her. She didn’t want that happening to Conner. If she couldn’t have back hers, she’d make sure that he kept his no matter what.

* * *

He'd fallen asleep after playing with the toys Jess had brought, his favourite being a bright red plane. After Lena explained what planes did, he spent an hour running about pretending to fly it about and making these adorable plane noises before once again eating double his weight in food, then he passed out on her couch. Usually, Lena would be annoyed if she was being disturbed whilst she was working but with Conner, she didn’t really mind all that much. He was softly snoring under a mountain of blankets which Lena had put under him.

She was on her laptop, just looking through some reports from L-Corp which she’d been neglecting in favour of babysitting a 3-year-old. She rolled her eyes as she noticed some mistakes in the financial reports and quickly sent an email informing them about it, she really couldn’t rely on anyone, whether it was personal or professional.

There was a soft knock on her door. Lena furrowed her brow, who would be knocking on her door? She’d already sent Jess home for the night and everyone else she knew thought she was becoming a supervillain like the rest of her family. Lena put her laptop to the side and checked that Conner was still sound asleep, he was.

Lena stood up and walked towards the door, fully expecting it to be some salesman. However, just in case whatever was knocking on her door was dangerous, she put on her hand on the gun under the table near the door. Then she opened it. Lena really wished it was someone dangerous when she realised who was at her door.

_Kara Danvers._

She wasn’t in her suit, her hair was up in a ponytail and she had her glasses on. Their eyes met and Kara gave her a small smile. That smile which once caused Lena’s heart to sore, but instead she felt like Kara had just punched a hole in her heart. Their eyes were locked, Lena wanted desperately to get lost in the blue of Kara’s eyes, let herself feel the fall into Kara’s arms and forget everything that happened since Lex. But she couldn’t do that. Not anymore. Kara had broken her heart and she couldn’t just forget that.

This wasn’t her Kara, this was Supergirl. This wasn’t the woman who swore she’d never stop being her friend. This was the woman who had James sneak into her lab because she didn’t trust her at all. This wasn’t the woman who continuously convinced her that she was better than her last name. No, this was the woman who only saw her for her last name when it really came down it. Everything Kara had ever said her was a lie, she’d never really been her friend. So, Lena steeled her heart and put all those emotions back into their respective box to bury them.

“Are you here to arrest me?” She asked keeping all the emotion out of her voice as she spoke.

Shock washed over Supergirl’s face. “W-what? No, of course.” Supergirl stuttered out after recovering from her shock at Lena’s question. Lena rolled her eyes. Did Supergirl really think she’d fall for the act? Supergirl tried to reach for her and only met air as Lena jerked her arm of out the way. The other woman sighed deeply and readjusted her glasses. Lena always used to find it endearing and if she was truly honest with herself, she still did but if growing up a Luthor thought Lena anything it was how to lie to herself. “Listen, Lena, I just really want to talk.” Supergirl was pleading.

“We’ve already said everything we need to say, Supergirl.” She replied harshly, crossing her arms over her chest as she spoke. She ignored the fact that Supergirl looked like a kicked puppy at that moment.

“Please, Lena. Let me fix this.” Supergirl was begging. It must be a cold day in hell, a Super begging a Luthor, Lena mused. She could see the desperation in those sky blues, but Lena wasn’t going to let herself fall for this again.

“There’s nothing to fix.” Lena sneered at the girl of steel. She couldn’t allow herself to listen to her traitorous heart again, it had been broken too many times. She ignored the broken look on Supergirl’s face and the tears that were welling up in her eyes. It was all an act and she couldn’t let it affect her.

She was about to slam the door in Supergirl’s face as forget this conversation ever happened when she heard tiny footsteps from behind her and a small voice saying, “Who are you?” Conner was looking at Kar-Supergirl with a tilted head, he was walking towards them. That fact shocked Lena, she hadn’t seen him mutter one word to anyone but her since she met him, never mind walking towards them.

Supergirl’s head whipped back and forth between the two trying to figure out what’s happening. Lena ignored her and bent down and put her hands-on Conner’s shoulders. He was looking between them, clearly intrigued by what was happening. “Conner, go back to the other room.” She told him softly.

“You was gone, came looking for you.” He replied told her, she’d correct his grammar later when Supergirl wasn’t stood in her doorway.

Lena gave him a small smile, “I’ll be there in a minute. I just have to finish this.”

He nodded and looked back at Supergirl giving her a sweet smile, which she definitely didn’t deserve. Lena didn’t feel her heart flutter when Supergirl returned it, no she definitely did not. “Bye.” He muttered before walking back to the couch. He looked hesitant and turned to look back at the superhero a couple of times before he was out of view.

She turned her attention back to the super and let her mask slip back into place. Supergirl was still looking at Conner as he walked away. “Don’t worry, I’ve not kidnapped him.” She ignored Supergirl’s protests that she wasn’t thinking that and continued, “I’m babysitting for an old friend from college.” She lied easily, the Super didn’t need to know the truth as that would require trust and Lena didn’t trust Supergirl.

Once again, Supergirl fiddle with her glasses. “Oh right, he’s cu-“

“Goodbye, Supergirl.” She said cutting the other girl off.

“Wait-“ She ignored the protest as she closed the other in Supergirl’s face. It was easy this way. After all, she was over being friends with Supergirl, if they were really ever truly friends. She ignored the fact that her heart broke as she heard the slam. She also ignored that small voice in her head which said that the woman on the other side of the door was probably feeling the same heartbreak as Lena was right now.

She stayed at the door until she heard Supergirl let out a ragged breath and mutter, “I’m not giving up, Lena.” Then she walked away. Lena fought the urge to chase after Kara at that moment, but she reminded herself that the Kara she loved wasn’t really ever real. It was all a lie to use her to take down her mother, then her brother, Supergirl never really cared about her.

Lena turned away from the door and took a deep breath. She quickly wiped the tear rolling down her cheek, she couldn’t continue crying over her ex-best friend. She’d done that enough already. She saw Conner standing at the end of the hall, he was pouting about the fact that Supergirl had left. “Who was that?”

“No one important,” Lena said, she ignored the voice screaming that Kara was the most important thing in the world to her. Instead of giving into her darkness, she pulled on a fake smile walked over to Conner. “Come on, let's see if that cat catches the mouse.” Lena picked him up and pushed all thoughts of Kara Danvers to the back of her head, at least for tonight.


	2. The room is spinning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara gets a big sister prep talk. Lena figures out more things about Conner that change everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back!   
> Some people were asking about crisis and if I'll be including it. I won't be to put it simply. It's hard to mention it as it won't conclude until January so I don't think I can fully integrate it into the story, so I won't be adding it. I'm probably going to follow similar lines with the rest of the season, though I might add elements if I think it will fit.   
> Thanks for all the support! Enjoy!

Kara was on her fifth scoop of ice cream when Alex walks into her apartment. She had been finishing up an article when she thought about how much Lena would like this certain piece and then was reminded herself that Lena hated her, meaning ice cream. She didn’t know what else she could do. She’d given Lena time and Lena still hated her. She’d apologized and Lena still hated her. She’d been sneaking Lena’s favourite foods into her office, both to make sure that Lena eat and to show that she still cared, however, Lena still hated her. Every morning she texted Lena and did the same every night. She’d called, but it always went to voicemail and Kara always left a voicemail begging Lena to just talk to her. She wasn’t giving up; she’d never give up on Lena. But, how was she meant to fix this when Lena refused to talk to her.

She understood why Lena was angry. They’d been best friends for 3 years now and she’d hidden apart of herself from her. At first, it was just because there was never a good time to tell Lena; Jack died, Lillian was messing with her head and then Rhea used Lena. She also liked the fact that Lena saw her as just Kara. Lena didn’t believe in her because she was Supergirl, but because she saw who she really was without the cape. Kara liked that fact and so there was a part of her that never wanted to tell Lena because once she did, she’d begin to only see her as Supergirl just like everyone else. Then, she’d had a nasty argument with Lena when she was Supergirl and Kara was afraid that if she told Lena she’d lose her. Kara was selfish and a coward. Due to that, she lost one of the most important people in her life.

Also, she’d turned Lena into a killer. If had just dealt with Lex before he could teleport away, then Lena never would’ve had to go through the trauma of killing her own brother. Not just that but Lena killed Lex for her, only to find out that Kara had been lying to her all this time. She understood why Lena was angry. She just wished that Lena would talk to her.

When Alex walked into Kara’s apartment to see her baby sister sat on her couch, wrapped in a blanket and eating ice cream, she’d had enough. “Ok, nope. You’re not doing this, Kara.” She demanded as she walked over to her sister and took the bowl out of her hands.

“Noooo, Alex, give it back,” Kara whined trying to reach for it. She was pouting and giving Alex her best puppy eyes, not that it ended up working. First, her best friend hated her and now Alex was taking away her ice cream. Why did bad things always happen to her? Her sister ignored her and placed the ice cream back in the freezer.

“I’m done with you feeling sorry for yourself,” Alex told her sitting back down next to her. Kara was about to protest, but Alex gave her a pointed look and she closed her mouth. “I get it, Lena hates you and you blame yourself for almost sending her off the deep end. Even if that isn’t really your fault.” Kara once again tried to protest at Alex’s last point, but after another look, she didn’t. “The Kara I know wouldn’t sit here doing nothing, she’d go and find Lena to fix this.”

Kara sighed. “I want to do that, but Lena isn’t letting me talk to her. She’s shutting down and hiding her true feelings. I don’t know how to get through to her anymore.” She replied leaning her head against Alex’s shoulder.

“So, you’re giving up. Good, Lena is clearly like the rest of her family at the end of the day, she is a Luthor after all.”

Kara shoot up at the mere suggestion and glared at her sister, who prepared herself for the typical rant Kara had when someone even suggested that fact. “Lena isn’t like the rest of her family! She’s smart, brave, selfless and kind-hearted! She’s saved the world like a thousand times by this point and she’s saved my life too many times to count! Sure, she made one mistake but that doesn’t undo all of the good she’s done for this world! I’m never giving up on Lena. I can’t give up on her! I’m in love with her.” Kara so caught up in her rant defending Lena, it took her a few minutes to let that sink in. Alex stared at Kara with a knowing smile, she didn’t expect to hear that when she decided to fire up Kara but it was good that her sister admitted it. Kara slumped back on the couch. “I’m in love with Lena Luthor.” She whispered to herself.

Alex wrapped her arm around Kara’s shoulders. “Only took you three years to realise that, dummy.” Kara wasn’t really listening to her sister as she was engrossed in her own thoughts. Everything seemed to click into place the more she thought about it. She always thought Lena was the most beautiful person she’d ever seen, that was a given. Why she always fought for Lena so furiously. Why she never considered for one moment that she’d give up on the other woman. Why she had butterflies every time Lena looked at her. Why she lit up when Lena walked into the room. Why she was so scared to lose Lena. Why she felt like her whole world stopped spinning when Lena left her in that ice. She was in love with her. She’d been in love with Lena for years.

The worst part about it was that Lena now hated her. She finally figured out that she was in love with Lena after all these years and there was no chance that Lena would ever love her back, not anymore. Even if by some miracle Lena did forgive her someday, it would never be the same. Their relationship was tainted. Kara had destroyed any hope of Lena loving her back. She loved Lena and she was the one who inflicted the worst betrayal on Lena, she was the one who hurt the woman she loved the most.

Kara put her head in her hands. She just wished she could turn back time and tell Lena it was too late. That she could tell Lena that she was in love with her without the fear that Lena would just think she was manipulating her. But you can’t change your past, Barry had told her the dangers of that on numerous occasions. It would another instance of Kara being selfish and look where selfishness had gotten her so far.

“It’s okay, Kara,” Alex said breaking Kara out of her inner thoughts.

Kara let out a bitter chuckle. “How is any of this okay, Alex?” She shouted letting out her frustration on her sister. Kara sighed knowing that Alex didn’t deserve this. “I’m sorry, you’re just trying to look out for me. It’s just, what else can I do? I finally realised that I’m in love with her and Lena hates me.” Alex laughed, she honest to Rao laughed at her. “This isn’t funny!”

Alex stopped laughing, “Oh it is so. The thought that Lena Luthor would ever hate you is the funniest thing I’ve heard all week.” Alex told her with a smirk. Kara huffed and crossed her arms. It was clear that Alex just didn’t understand everything that she has done to Lena. “Listen I haven’t forgiven Luthor for how she’s treated you the last few months but there is no way she hates you. She’s hurting and is pretending to hate you to push you away. But could she really hate you? Not a chance in hell.”

“I’ve seen it in her eyes, she hates me.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “And I’ve seen the way she looks at you when you’re not looking. It’s kinda sickening. You’re going through a rough patch, but if there is such a thing as soulmates then you and Lena are soulmates. You will get through this.” Alex said she was so sure of it that Kara began to believe in it. “So, the next time I come into this apartment I better not find you on this couch eating ice cream. You’re going to go talk to Lena and sort this out.”

“What do I tell her?”

“The truth. She wants the truth about why you didn’t tell her. She wants the truth about who you really are. She wants the truth about how you feel. That’s all she’s ever wanted from you, Kara.”

* * *

It had been a week since Lena had found Conner and she still wasn’t any closer to figuring out why he was in that lab, to begin with. She had figured out that she couldn’t pierce his skin to get a blood test. He was super strong as he’d accidentally broken her table in half during tantrum about eating his vegetables, Lena gave up trying to make him eat broccoli for the night after that. She wasn’t sure if he had any other powers. From what she gathered from her own research and Lex’s journals; aliens tended to grow stronger as they age. She hoped that he didn’t, dealing with a toddler was hard enough without them having superpowers.

Conner was a breath of fresh air and a welcome distraction from the drama of her own life. Yes, it was hard looking after a toddler, but it was much easier than having to deal with her own emotional baggage. As well, she’d developed a certain soft spot for him. Not many people could worm their way into her heart as quickly as he did, she could only think of one person who’d even come close.

Lena finally decided to go out on a limb and try putting him under a red sun. She didn’t have any clue if it would work, but Cadmus was run by her mother and like the rest of her family, her mother had an unhealthy obsession with Kryptonians. If they were going to be keeping any type of alien in a lab, a Kryptonian child wasn’t all that insane. Also, she’d run out of ideas.

So, she turned on the red sun lamps she had developed when she was trying to separate Reign from Sam. She had Conner sit under them, it did take her bribing him with ice cream to get him to sit still long enough. After waiting for about ten minutes, she decided it was time to try again. She turned her eyes to Conner, who was sat on a bed eating his ice cream happily. He had gotten it all around his mouth, triggering Lena to roll her eyes. “Okay, you’re going to feel a slight pinch, but it will be over quickly.” She told him.

“Then more ice cream?” He asked having just finished the one she’d just gotten him. He was pouting and giving her his best puppy eyes, he reminded her so much of someone at that moment. There were these moments when he’d do something and there was an itch in the back of her head telling her that she’d seen that before. “Please?” She had been trying to teach him manners.

“Yes, then I’ll take you to get more ice cream.” She promised and couldn’t help smiling as he grinned up at her. She took the needle from the table next to them and rolled up his sleeve. “Deep breath.” He winced as the needle went into his arm and took blood. It seems that much like the Kryptonians his physically was meant to be under a red sun and his powers would come from the yellow sun of Earth. After the results of this blood test, she’d understand what exactly he was other than part alien part human.

She gave Conner a smile and lifted off the table. “Ice cream?” He asked here with a hopeful look in his blue eyes. Lena walked over to the equipment that would analyse his blood, with Conner on her hip. She just hoped that she’d be able to get some answers soon.

* * *

After returning from ice cream, the results were in. Lena wasn’t really shocked by what she saw when she checked the results. Conner was a human-Kryptonian hybrid. The only problem for Lena was what that meant. She didn’t know what that meant for Conner physically, whether he’d end up having all the powers which Superman/Supergirl have or if he’d be something altogether different.

However, she also didn’t know what that meant for her personally. If Conner was Kryptonian then one of Conner’s parents were Kryptonian, so it was Lena’s duty to figure out who they are. She knew the best thing for him was for her to ask one of the Kryptonians for help. Considering only Supergirl was currently on Earth, it meant asking Supergirl for help. That was the problem. Lena didn’t trust Supergirl.

Not anymore.

* * *

Lena was working through a stack of paperwork which needed her approval in her penthouse, she’d definitely been falling behind, and Jess could only cover for her so much. Before Conner Lena barely looked after herself, she definitely didn’t sleep enough, and she’d forget meals. However, now she had a three-year-old who depended on her to remember when mealtimes were, and she had to make sure stuck to bedtimes. That wasn’t the hardest part, she really doesn’t know how she was meant to act around him, she knew for the time being she was meant to act as some type of mother figure. Lena, who never had a real mother most of her life, didn’t know how to be that for him. She just hoped that she wouldn’t screw it up until she found his real parents.

If he had any.

Her eyes drifted to Conner, who was sat on the floor playing with toy cars and the mini race track she’d bought him. If Lena was honest with herself she probably bought too many toys, but she wanted him to have a range of things to place with and was the point of having a bank account with too many digits in it if not to spend some of it. He was making zoom noises as he moved them across the track, a little too fast for a normal three-year-old Lena noted.

There was a knock on her door causing both her and Conner to turn their attention to the front door. Lena sighed and went to answer the door, whilst, Conner continued playing with his cars. If she had to guess it was most likely Jess delivering another load of paperwork, she was the CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company after all.

She couldn’t stop the sharp intake in breathe as she opened the door. Kara stood in front of her. Her hair was down, and she wasn’t wearing glasses, but she was in normal clothing. Her brain was short-circuiting, she could normally separate Kara and Supergirl from each other as they acted so different and dressed differently but right now, she was having a problem doing that. The woman stood in front of her looked like the Girl of Steel apart from her outfit but her whole posture screamed Kara; it was disorienting. Not to mention how breath-taking she looked.

Lena scrambled to try to rebuild the wall in her brain that kept them separate, but Kara gave her a smile and it crumbled again. “Hi Lena,” Kara said nervously, her hand moved to where her glasses normally were only to meet air. “Right, I’m not wearing them,” Kara muttered and smiled again at Lena. Yeah, that wall in her head was dust. “Can I come in?” She watched as Kara messed with her hands as she spoke, she sounded afraid to actually hear what Lena was going to answer her with. However, Lena just nodded, her brain still not functioning enough to allow her to speak.

“I know the last thing you want to see right now is me, but I really need to talk to you. You’re one of the most important people in my life and I can’t live without you in my life, Lena.” Kara confessed, looking straight into her eyes as she spoke. Lena could feel her heart pounding in her chest and wondered if the woman across from her could hear it. Her head was spinning, Kara was punching through all those walls like they weren’t even there. She was stronger than this, she had to protect herself, she couldn’t let Kara break her heart again. Kara wasn’t real, it was all just an act. However, when Kara’s hand touched her arm, it felt real. “Please, can we just talk?”

“Kara…” Lena whispered as she put her hand on top of Kara’s. At that moment she just wanted to give into Kara’s warmth. The warmth which filled Lena whenever Kara just looked at her, like her own personal sun keeping her warm. But she couldn’t let herself get hurt again, it almost destroyed her when she found out and she didn’t think she would be able to continue if it happened again. Hell, she still hadn’t recovered from the first time Kara broke her heart. So, she removed Kara’s hand from her arm and said, “There’s nothing you can say that will change what happened.”

She could see tears welling up in Kara’s eyes and Lena was pretty sure that she was crying. “I know, but we can change what happens from now on.” Always so much hope, but what else should Lena expect from the Girl of Steel. “I promise I’ll never hurt you again.” She sounded sincere, but how many times did Kara sound sincere when she previously promised things to her.

“You’ve promised me that before. Why is now different? What’s changed, Kara?”

“I’ve already lost you once and I’d never risk losing you again,” Kara told her and Lena wanted desperately to believe her. She wanted a lot of things when it came to Kara, but she couldn’t let herself give in to those urges. If she did then it would destroy her. Kara continued, “I was so selfish, Lena. I liked the fact that you just saw me as Kara and that you believed in Kara. So, I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to lose the one person in my life who saw me for more than just a cape. It was never because of your last name, you’re so much more than just your last name or because I didn’t trust you, I trust you with my life. If I had just looked beyond my own selfishness than I’d see that by choosing not to tell you I’d already lost you.”

Lena didn’t get the chance to respond because they were interrupted by Conner. He was looking between the two clearly confused. His eyes finally fixed on Kara; his head was cocked to the side as he tried to figure out the woman in front of him. His reaction was similar to what it was the last time Kara came over, but this time he was fully awake and got a real look at her as she was fully in the apartment. Kara’s eyes were on Conner, even more, confused than the toddler was. “I thought you said you were just babysitting.” Both sets of blue eyes turned to Lena as Kara spoke to her.

“I-“ A stark realisation hit Lena at that moment. They had the same eyes. The same shade of blue that Lena couldn’t resist drowning in. How hadn’t she realised that before? Maybe it was because she’d stopped allowing herself from thinking about Kara and so when she looked at Conner, she didn’t allow herself to see the resemblance. It wasn’t just their eye colour though. They had the same smile, that smile that caused Lena’s heart to melt and the smile that she’d do anything to see lit up their face. The same eyebrow crinkle when they were confused or upset. They both had an unparalleled ability to break down her walls.

Conner was half-Kryptonian.

Kara was Conner’s mother.

That made Lena lightheaded and she was pretty sure that the room was spinning. Then the whole room when black and she felt herself falling backwards.


	3. The Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena tells Kara the truth, sort of. Kara spends some time with Conner whilst Lena is getting some answers out of her mother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! 
> 
> I'm not going to spoil anything about Crisis but for those of you who do know about what happened, do you know understand why I'm not touching it with a 10-foot pole.   
> Also for those of you who had this posted twice, I'm sorry that happened. It just messed up a bit so I hope it's fixed now.
> 
> Thanks for all the support and Enjoy!

“I-“ Kara watched as Lena paled and looked like she was going to throw up. Her green eyes were frantically going between Kara and Conner, growing paler every time she switched who she was looking at. Kara was getting worried, Lena didn’t look well. Then her eyes rolled into the back off her head and she began to fall to the ground completely limp.

Luckily, Kara reacted in time and gracefully caught Lena in her arms, one arm on Lena’s upper back and the other wrapped around her waist. “Lena?” She ended up getting no response from the CEO, whose eyes were closed and her breathing slightly shallow, although her heart was beating fine which was some relief to Kara. It was obvious that Lena had just fainted, though Kara had no clue why. Effortlessly, Kara picked Lena up bridal style and carried her to the couch.

When Kara carefully laid Lena on the couch, she heard a small voice ask, “She okay?” Kara was so engrossed in making sure that Lena was okay that she forgot about the little boy in Lena’s apartment. The expression on his face and the fact that he was wringing his hands showed that he was clearly worried. She didn’t know what his relationship with Lena was like but it was clear that he cared about Lena how he was acting.

Giving the woman she loved one more look to make sure that Lena hadn’t gotten any worse, Kara turned her attention to Conner. She gave him a comforting smile and knelt down in front of him. “Lena is the strongest person I know, she’ll be fine.” She moved a stray piece of hair from his eyes and said, “I promise.” He looked down at the floor for a few moments considering what she just said, before looking up and nodding to show that he believed her. “I’m Kara.”

He furrowed his brow, “Lena said you no one.” Kara’s smile faltered for a few moments as she heard what he did. He’d inventively stabbed Kara right in the heart when he said that, despite the pure innocence in how he said it. Her eyes turned to Lena, who was still passed out and Kara felt her heartache; she hated the fact that they were at this point. He seemed to sense that he’d upset Kara because he quickly grabbed one of his toy cars and offered it to her, “Better?”

Kara gave him a sad smile and took the car, “Thank you.” He gave her a grin and Kara couldn’t help but smile back at him, even if her heart still ached. Up close Kara saw various similarities which Conner had with Lena, they had the same hair colour and jawline. He could easily be Lena’s son, you know if it wasn’t impossible for Lena actually have a 3-year-old without her noticing her best friend was pregnant.

She shook the idea out of her head and looked back at Lena, who was regaining consciousness. She quickly rushed across the kitchen and got Lena a glass of water, before arriving back at her side. Just as she arrived, Lena’s eyes fluttered open. “Kara…” Lena muttered as green met blue. Lena’s eyes were a similar colour to that of Kryptonite and seemed to have the same effect on Kara too; Kara was powerless to both.

Lena groaned and sat up rubbing her head as she did. “What happened? Are you okay?” She asked, not resisting the urge to place a comforting hand on Lena’s forearm at that moment and instead she handed Lena the glass of water with a small smile. She saw Lena look between herself and Conner before answering as she took a sip of water. It was clear that Lena’s mind was racing about something.

After a few moments, Lena sighed loudly clearly making up her mind about something. She stood up and Kara quickly got up to try to help her, but she backed off after a glare from Lena. Kara was once again reminded that Lena still hated her and that nothing had changed. Lena walked over to Conner and told him to go play in the other room. The boy hesitated, looking between the two adults before him, before doing as Lena asked. He turned to Kara with a sweet smile, “Bye, Kara.”

“Bye.” She said returning the smile. What Kara did miss was the way Lena was looking at her as this interaction occurred, if she had caught it maybe Kara would stop believing that Lena hated her. The look that Lena gave Kara was one of pure adoration, however, by the time Kara looked back at her, Lena had already put her mask squarely back in place.

Lena walked over to where she kept her scotch and poured herself a glass. She took a deep gulp before turning back to Kara. “Conner isn’t the child of some old friend,” Lena told her causing Kara’s eyebrows to furrow in confusion. Kara was about to speak but Lena continued, “I found him at one of my mother’s- Cadmus’ old labs last week. It was burnt to the ground and in the ashes, I found him.”

That piece of information spent Kara’s mind racing. She knew that they didn’t find all of the Cadmus facilities scattered across the country, but she was pretty sure they found the most important ones. Also, what did Cadmus want with a three-year-old boy? “Why are you only telling me about this now?” Kara asked she didn’t get why Lena didn’t bring this up when they talked last week.

Lena let out a laugh, it was humourless and bitter. “That’s rich coming from you, Kara or should I say Supergirl.” Kara’s eyes instantly went to the ground in shame. Who was she to be questioning Lena about hiding things from her for a week when she hid part of her life from Lena for three years? She heard a scoff coming from the other woman and Kara looked back up at Lena, “We don’t have time for self-pity.” She chastised with a roll of her eyes. “And to answer your question, it wasn’t relevant until now. I ran tests earlier today, Conner is half-Kryptonian, half-human.”

Kara was taken aback at that nugget of information. “How is that possible? I know for a fact only me and Superman were the only Kryptonians on Earth three years ago. There is no way either of us had a kid at that time.” Kara exclaimed, completely confused. However, if Conner was part-Kryptonian than it was her duty to help him wherever she could.

Lena hummed as she thought about that fact and took a sip, “I have my theories on that matter, but I can’t be sure until I find out more.”

“What can I do to help?” They held eye contact for a moment, Kara felt like her heart was in her mouth as she watched Lena deliberate on something. Had she overstepped? It felt like Lena was asking for her help by trusting her with this information and why tell her about Conner being half-Kryptonian if not to get her involved. Though, it would just be Lena answering her question and nothing more. She wouldn’t be surprised if Lena didn’t want to work with her considering the current state of their relationship.

“You’re going to keep an eye on Conner for me.” She told her, there wasn’t a question in the way she said it, not that Kara would tell Lena no to anything she asked. She watched as Lena finished her drink, “Whilst I’m visiting my mother to get some answers.”

Hopefully, this would be the beginning of their healing process or that’s what Kara hoped. It couldn’t be too late for them; this was their second chance, right? “Just don’t let her get into your head,” Kara warned, she knew how complicated Lena and Lillian’s relationship was and she didn’t need Lillian manipulating Lena anymore, Lex had already done enough damage as it is.

“Don’t mistake us working together as forgiveness,” Lena said harshly, bashing all of Kara’s hopes that they were on the path of reconciliation. “The only ask one other thing of you.”

“Anything,” Kara said a little too quickly.

“Don’t tell anyone else.”

* * *

After some bargaining with Conner, he finally agreed to go to Kara’s apartment whilst Lena went to talk with Lillian. He was clearly attached to Lena and wasn’t very happy that she was leaving him for the first time. He was sat on Kara’s couch staring at the door with a pout on his face. According to Lena, he wasn’t very good with other people and cried every time she left him alone with someone. So, it was a good sign that he wasn’t crying.

“Hey buddy, Lena will be back soon she just has some really important things to do,” Kara said sitting next to him with a kind smile. He looked up at her still pouting, but he wasn’t looking at the door anymore which was a good sign. Kara racked her brain for an idea to cheer him up. “Do you like doughnuts?”

“No nuts?” He asked confused at what Kara just said.

Kara’s mouth hung open in shock, he hadn’t heard of doughnuts. What had Lena been feeding his poor kid? Probably kale or some other gross green thing. She had to rectify this complete disaster. “Close your eyes,” Kara told him and after a few moments, he did as he was told. As fast as she could, Kara raced across the city to get the best doughnuts money could buy and brought them back (paying for them of course). He opened his eyes at the gust of wind he felt on his face. Kara was grinning at him and offered him one, “Doughnuts.”

As he had his first bite, his eyes widened, and a matching grin appeared on his face. He devoured the rest of it at an alarming speed for a three-year-old. This was definitely the right call as he then turned to the red planet, he brought with him. He pretending to make it fly and the whole thing was too way cute for Kara to handle. He turned to Kara on the couch with a raised eyebrow and an expecting look, “Play?”

“Sure.” After a bit, Kara suggested she lift him up with the plane and make him ‘fly’. So, they spent the next half an hour with Kara running around her apartment with him above her head with his arms around wide making plane noises. His laughter was infectious, and Kara was just happy that he was enjoying himself. Whatever he’d been through before Lena found him, Kara promised herself that she’d try her hardest to make his life as happy as possible from now on.

The door swung open and she heard Alex say, “Hey Kara- what is going on here?” Both Kara and Conner turned to Alex with a similar look, they’d been finishing the rest of the doughnuts and their mouths were covered in powdered sugar. Kara wiped her mouth and gave her sister a smile and walked over. Whereas, Conner backed away from the door.

“Hey, Alex. I’m just babysitting.” She said it wasn’t really lying, she just didn’t mention who for and why she was babysitting. When Kara turned to look at Conner and noticed the fear in the little boy’s eyes, she walked over to him. Lena really was right; he was afraid of strangers. Kara wondered what made her so different, she guessed it was because he was Kryptonian but that didn’t seem like the full truth. She bent down in front of him and didn’t even get a chance to calm him down as he jumped into her arms, burying his head in her neck. His grip was so tight that it even caused Kara some discomfort. “It’s okay, Alex is my sister. She won’t hurt you.” She whispered as she rubbed his back.

“Scared,” Conner said, his voice muffled against her neck. She wondered what had caused his fear of strangers to be so strong in the toddler, but she knew that it wasn’t any good.

Kara stood up, with Conner still in her arms and saw the concern in her sister’s eyes. She mouthed an apology to Alex, before turning her attention fully back to Conner. “I’ll protect you.”

He took his head out of her neck and looked her straight in the eye. He had tears welling in his eyes. “Promise?”

“Promise.” They held eye contact for a moment before Conner turned his head towards Alex, who still looked worried. His grip loosened around her neck and he wasn’t as stiff anymore, but he was far from relaxed. He gave Alex a once over before turning back to Kara, she shot him a reassuring smile when he did. “What’s up?” She asked her sister.

“I was worried as you haven’t been replying to any of my messages since you went to go talk to Lena,” Alex explained, clearly expecting Kara to tell her how it went. When Conner heard Lena’s name his eyes widened and looked behind Alex, hoping she’d appear. After a second, he frowned and turned to Kara with a pout. “Didn’t think it was possible, but that kid has a better pout than you, Kara.” The Super rolled her eyes and ruffled Conner’s hair affectionately causing him to giggle. “Know what happened with Luthor?”

Kara paused thinking how she’d explain what happened with Lena without breaking her promise not to tell _anyone_ about Conner. “Err- we talked. Well I more talked, I went without my glasses and it seemed to work slightly. I explained why I hid it from her and that I wanted to start over.” That wasn’t a lie, she did do all of that.

“And what did Lena say?” They’d moved to the couch, with Conner still watching Alex like a hawk.

“Not much, you know how Lena can get. She’s still hurt but I think we’re getting somewhere. She asked me to help her with something and that’s a positive sign, right?” Kara said with a shrug.

Alex scowled at her. “The last time she asked you to help her she trapped you in kryptonite ice. You can’t trust Lena, she could be manipulating you again.” Two pairs of blue eyes glared at Alex when she said that. Kara knew that there was a risk that Alex was right, but she’d seen the way Lena talked to Conner, she cared about him. It wasn’t like Lena was trying to take over the world, she was just trying to help a toddler.

“She’s not.”

“You don’t know that, Kara.”

“Yes, I do!” Kara asserted forcefully. Lena wasn’t manipulating her. If anyone was the manipulator in their relationship it was Kara, she’d manipulated Lena for years by not telling her who she was. Sure, it wasn’t explicit manipulation and it wasn’t malicious, but it was still manipulative none the less.

Alex sighed deeply. “Listen, I get that you love Lena and that love can blind you but-“

“But nothing, Alex. I know that you’re just trying to protect me, and I love that about you, but if I’m going to fix this, I need to show her that I trust her despite everything. I need to show her that I still believe in her. Also, I want to help her with this.” She explained to Alex after cutting her off.

Her sister sighed, “I just don’t want to see you get hurt again, Kara.”

“I know but I have to try.”

* * *

Meanwhile, Lena entered the meeting room with her mother. She hadn’t seen her mother since the White House and had intended to never speak to her again. However, she needed answers about Conner, and she was willing to put her own personal feelings aside for the greater good. That’s why she enlisted the help of Supergirl, it was better for Conner if he had someone there to help him with his abilities.

She’d not told Kara about her theory that she was his mother, or at least that her DNA was used to create him. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her, that was part of it of course. It was more because she wasn’t a hundred percent sure if she really was, and if in the event she was wrong, she didn’t want to complicate the situation any more than it already was. So, she kept her theory to herself and secretly hoped that she was wrong.

They sat across from each other for a few moments, each not willing to give any ground to the other. However, after a minute, Lillian rolled her eyes and spoke, “I saw the news; I couldn’t believe it, Eve Teschmacher and Myriad. I do hope your okay, dear.” Lillian spoke, her tone might have conveyed concern, but Lena could see the mocking in her eyes. Lena knew that her mother wouldn’t fall for the same lie the rest of the world did, not that anyone understood what she was trying to do that was.

The younger Luthor gave a humourless chuckle, “I’m not here to play games with you, mother.” She told her, keeping her voice cold. She’d learnt how to act around Lillian a long time ago.

“Then why are you here? You haven’t been to visit in months.” Her mother was leaning forward clearly enjoying herself. Lena wondered if she knew that Lex was planning to tell her about Supergirl or whether she enjoyed the fact that Lena was in the dark. It was probably the latter; Lillian had always enjoyed making her out to be the fool.

“Experiment 13.” She stated coolly. When reading about the lab she found Conner in there were various mentions about experiment 13, so she went out on a limb and guessed that it had something to do with Conner. After all, what else could be more important to Cadmus than a Kryptonian clone which they can use to achieve their mean? 

Lillian’s face dropped for a moment before she regained her composure, if Lena had blinked, she would’ve missed it. That caused Lena a certain pride. “How is my dear Kon-El? I guess that’s why you’re here.”

“Kon-El?” Lena enquired, she guessed that was what they named Conner, but she didn’t want to tell her mother all she knew at this moment in time.

“Let’s not act like you don’t know who I’m talking about, it’s beneath you,” Lillian told her disapprovingly.

“Fine, why was Cadmus creating a human-Kryptonian hybrid?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Lillian asked and Lena just glared back in return wanting a real answer. Her mother rolled her eyes and continued, “We wanted to create our own version of Superman, fight fire with fire. He’d be Earth’s true champion. The only problem was that we couldn’t figure out how to speed up his ageing which made him useless. We put him in cold storage and left him to age in a test tube.”

Lena gritted her teeth at that, no one deserved that, especially not Conner. The thought of what he was put through made her blood boil. “He’s a child.” She spat back infuriated.

“A child we breed for destruction.”

“So, what you cloned Superman and some human to create your own Kryptonian henchman?” She accused trying her hardest to keep her voice as neutral as possible.

“We did first try with Superman and the best humanity had to offer, your brother. However, each experiment failed in the end, your brother and Superman are complete opposites so getting it was impossible to get a sable clone.” Lillian told her with a cool nonchalance. Lena didn’t want to answer the next question because she had a terrible feeling as to where this was going. However, she didn’t have to ask as Lillian smirked at her and continued, “So, when we got a sample of Supergirl’s blood we tried with her and Kon-El was created.”

Lena wanted to throw up. “So, he’s the clone of Supergirl and Lex.” Something about what she just said felt wrong, but she just hoped that this wasn’t heading where her gut told it was. Where she’d always suspected the truth lay, a secret fact that lay in the box which was buried right at the back of her mind.

Lillian laughed coldly at her, “Not Lex. You’re Kon-El’s human template, Lena.”

She didn’t say goodbye to her mother after that. She just needed to get out of there, she just needed to get some air. She didn’t remember leaving the jail. She didn’t remember telling her driver where to drive too. She was on autopilot from the second those words left Lillian’s mouth.

This couldn’t be happening; how could this have happened to her. Conner was the mix of herself and Kara. As the news sunk in, everything began to make sense. Why Conner trusted her, on some level he must’ve felt some connection with her. Also, for the same reason why he seemed to not be afraid of Kara. Why she felt a connection with him that she hadn’t with anyone else before.

Lena was snapped out of her thoughts by her knocking on a door. The door swung open to reveal Kara, with Conner in her arms. Looking at him she could see it all so perfectly now, he was a near-perfect mix of them. She didn’t even realise that she was going to Kara’s apartment but standing in front of her she didn’t know how to explain what her mother told her. However, she knew that she had to tell Kara the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for leaving it on another cliffhanger. However, I do hope you enjoyed.


	4. Meet Conner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara finds out the truth. Then Kara and Lena decide where to go from here.

When Kara opened the door, her eyes landed on a very pale Lena Luthor, Kara was afraid that Lena might faint again. She was clearly just running on pure instinct. Dread filled her in that moment; what had Lillian said to make Lena react this way? She knew it was a bad idea to let Lena go alone but there was no way Lena would let her go or that Lillian would talk if she was there, but someone should’ve gone with Lena for moral support.

She shifted the very confused toddler in her arms so that he was resting on her hip and she had a free hand. Kara put her free hand on Lena’s shoulder trying to snap Lena out of it. “Lena?” Kara said trying to get her attention. Lena’s eyes snapped up to hers. “Are you okay?” She asked shepherding Lena inside of her apartment and closing the door behind them.

Lena chuckled humorously, “Not really still trying to process everything.” She confessed rubbing her temple.

Kara quickly walked over to her couch and placed Conner on it, she then turned on the TV to distract him with cartoons. It ended up working as he stopped paying attention to them. Then, she walked over to Lena. “What did Lillian say?” Kara asked crossing her arms over her chest.

Lena let out a ragged breath. “Conner is a human-Kryptonian clone. He was created by Cadmus to be their own version of Superman, Kon-El she called him.” Lena explained with a hard expression on her face.

A frown appeared on Kara’s face after hearing that. “A clone called Kon-El?” Lena nodded at Kara’s question. She just shook her head and looked at Conner with pity in her eyes, he had no idea what could be waiting for him. “On Krypton we banned cloning two generations before me. We used to use clones for everything, they rebelled, and their rebellion was the catalyst for Krypton’s destruction. The original Kon-El led the clone army.” She explained remembering the stories her mother told her about the Great Clone War. “Kon-El in English is translated to an abomination in the House of El.”

Lena was looking at her with a concerned expression, there was clearly something she hadn’t told her yet. “Do you really believe that about Conner?” Her arms were crossed over her chest.

In response, Kara shook her head and sighed, “No, of course not. No one is defined by their name.” She held Lena’s gaze as she said that, hoping that Lena would catch that she was referring to both her and Conner at that moment. Lena nodded at her words and seemed to be deep in thought when Kara spoke, “What else did your mother say?”

A sigh left Lena’s mouth. “You might want to sit down.” Kara’s brow furrowed in confusion, but she did what Lena told her to do. “As I said before Conner is part-human and part-Kryptonian. My mother said they mixed the best of humanity with the DNA of the _enemy_.” She paused for a few moments clearly preparing herself to say the rest. “They first tried to use Lex and Superman but failed, so they changed who they were cloning.” Once again Lena paused before continuing, “How do I phrase this right?”

Clearly Lena was struggling to tell her, she hadn’t seen Lena fluttered many times since they met and it was unnerving. “Just tell me.”

“They used us.”

“What?” Kara asked, she must have not heard her right, there was no way.

“I’m Conner’s human DNA template and you’re his Kryptonian one,” Lena explained slowly letting the information sink in for Kara and herself at the same time. Kara felt like she was in free fall, however, unlike normal she couldn’t stop herself before she hit the ground. How could this be possible? This felt impossible like this wasn’t her life and she was just in someone else’s body living their life.

Her eyes turned to the boy watching cartoons, his legs crossed and his head resting on his hands. She could see the resemblance; she’d already noted how much he and Lena looked alike but now she could see herself in him too. It made sense now. She’d been wondering why he felt safe around her but seemed to be terrified with others. Rao, this was all too much. It felt like the walls were closing in on her and she couldn’t breathe.

“Kara, breathe.” She felt two hands on her shoulders and a calm passed over her. Her eyes met with the Lena’s. She concentrated on breathing and the green of Lena’s eyes in an attempt to stop herself spiralling. She was Supergirl. Wasn’t she meant to be the strong one? Yet, it was Lena helping her keep it together. Also, didn’t Lena hate her? Why was she helping her now?

Her mind flicked back to a possible time when Cadmus could’ve gotten her DNA. However, then she remembered when they captured her and took her blood before Jeramiah saved her. They must’ve used some of her blood as the sample used to create Conner. They must’ve also done the same when they kidnapped Lena a few weeks later. How dare Lillian do that them? To her own daughter? All to create some superweapon for her own twisted agenda.

All of that was forgetting the fact that Conner was technically her son. Her son with Lena. That wasn’t complicated at all. Sure, she wanted to have kids someday, the keyword being someday. But she wasn’t ready to have one now, how do you even raise a kid? Never mind with the woman you’re in love with and when that said woman hates you for lying about being a Superhero. Rao, this whole situation hurt her head. “What are we going to do?” Kara asked slumping her shoulders.

A laugh left Lena’s lips. “Right now, I need a drink.” She confessed causing Kara to chuckle.

“I’m serious.”

“As am I.”

She’d missed this; talking to Lena like they usually did. For those few brief moments, it felt like they were them again like their friendship hadn’t imploded. Like Lena did hate her. Like Lena hadn’t almost succumbed her own inner darkness. Like they were just Kara and Lena again. 

However, it all came crashing down when the smirk disappeared from Lena’s lips and she spoke again all business, “We need a cover story.” Right, Lena did still hate her, they weren’t friends anymore and they were just working together because it was what was best for Conner. 

“How believable is it that Lena Luthor had a secret child that she hid from the world due to her family?” Kara asked with a shrug, it was possibly best to keep as close to the truth as possible.

Lena seemed to contemplate it, she had always kept her personal life very guarded from the media and she’d spent a couple of months just before Conner’s _birth_ locked away in her lab working on various projects. “Is it best to curse him with my last name?”

“No one is defined by the name,” Kara said repeating her previous words. She saw Lena in deep thought, so she added, “I’ll write the article.”

“I bet Andrea will love that, I can just imagine the scandalous clickbait headlines now,” Lena said with an amused smirk on her lips. 

“I’ll make sure it’s not too bad,” Kara promised and she quickly wanted to move on from her new boss. Rao, she missed Lena as her boss.

Lena paused for a few moments, “What do we tell everyone who knows I don’t have a child?”

“The truth?”

“When did you start telling people the truth?” Lena replied harshly and Kara inhaled sharply. Once again, the nice little bubble they were in burst and Kara was reminded that Lena hated her again.

Raggedly Kara exhaled and looked Lena in the eye. “Since I realised keeping the truth from people, even if it's for a noble reason, is always wrong.” She saw Lena’s expression soften slightly before her walls came back up, however, at least she’d gotten through even for a couple of seconds. She hadn’t truly lost Lena forever.

“The DEO can’t know,” Lena said with complete certainty, Kara was a little bit taken aback at that demand. “At least not that he’s your son. If the government knew that it’s possible to clone Kryptonians they’ll take him away, they’ll turn him into their weapon and use him to create an army of Kryptonian super-soldiers.” Lena explained after noticing Kara’s expression.

Kara wished that she didn’t agree with Lena but after what happened last year, she knew that she couldn’t truly trust the government anymore. Also, she knew that they’d try their hardest to exploit Conner if they got the chance. She needed to protect him; he was her son after all. Not that she’s fully to come to grips with that idea yet but she knew that she had to protect him no matter what happened. “You’re right and we can’t risk Conner’s safety. I’ll make sure Alex doesn’t tell anyone in the DEO when we tell her.”

“You should tell the rest of your _Superfriends_ ,” Lena said with a roll of her eyes at the end.

* * *

Lena wished she’d shot down Kara’s idea to tell people at this moment in time or at least that she’d tried harder to convince Kara that she didn’t have to be here. However, Kara wouldn’t be moved on the issue. So, Lena was awkwardly stood in front of a room of people who were lying to her since she knew them and believed she was no better than her last name. The only person she liked in the room was Conner, who was sat on Kara’s knee on the couch and was glaring at Alex. At least he inherited her intelligence (and trust issues).

“Kara, what the hell is going on?” Alex asked eyeing Lena suspiciously.

“Well, it’s kind of complicated and a really long story. You see it all started with Cadmus and they wanted to create their own Superman. So, they tried to create one, it didn’t work with Lex and Superman. So they stole my blood, you know when they kidnapped Mon-“ Kara began awkwardly and going into way too much detail.

“My mother created a human-Kryptonian hybrid using mine and Kara’s DNA. I found him last week, meet Conner.” Lena simplified cutting off Kara with a roll of her eyes. She motioned towards the toddler, who was grinning at her when he heard his name. They didn’t need the whole story and Lena was already over this whole situation. It had been a long week. There was a collective gasp at her statement, she heard Brainy mutter “How intriguing.” Whilst Nia was opening and closing her mouth in shock. J’onn was studying Conner in silence.

Alex’s reaction was one of disbelief. Then she broke out of her shock and glared at Kara, “This was what you were helping her with wasn’t it?” Kara just nodded. She turned to Lena with a hard look, “How do we know this isn’t all just a trick to make us trust you again?”

Did she really think that low of her? That she’d use an innocent child to hurt Kara. Lena chuckled bitterly. “You’ve caught me, Director Danvers. I created Conner and spun this whole lie to get back her trust so that I could kill her, I’m a Luthor after all. However, I stopped his ageing at three because I hear it’s when Kryptonians are at their most deadly.” She replied sarcastically. “We’ll be staying at my penthouse, so you’ll know exactly where to aim those tomahawk missiles when you get back to the DEO.” She added with a glare.

“You have no idea-“

Kara quickly cut off her sister, “Enough!” The whole room fell silent. “Alex, I know you’re just looking out for me but it’s the truth. You don’t have to trust, Lena, and I’m not asking you to but there’s no avoiding the fact that Conner is our son and I trust her.”

“You trust me after everything?”

“You trust her after everything?”

Both Lena and Alex then looked back at each other for a brief moment realising that they’d basically said the same thing, then they turned back to Kara. The Kryptonian huffed. “We’ll do anything we can to help,” J’onn said calming down the situation and moving on. Kara smiled at him, thankful for his actions.

“Oh yeah, totally. He’s literally the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” Nia said ruffling Conner’s hair. The toddler studied Nia for a few seconds trying to figure out if he liked her or not. He turned to Kara for a second opinion and then when Kara nodded at him, he gave Nia a small smile.

“Well, I’m writing an article giving him the cover story that he’s Lena’s son, who she kept secret for his own safety. You just have to keep up the story.” Kara explained simply. Lena noted that she’d missed out one of the more important parts of what they agreed, so she gave Kara a knowing look. “I was going to get to that,” Kara said when she caught how Lena was looking at her and just got an eye roll in return. “Also, you can’t let anyone know he’s my son, especially not to anyone in the DEO. It will put him in danger.”

“Why?”

“Well, Alex, there is an 85% chance that if the DEO found out that Conner was the genetic mix of Supergirl and Lena Luthor, the government try to turn him into a weapon for their own agenda,” Brainy added, clearly already seeing the logic in their way of thinking. Despite him lying to her, she did hold a soft spot for him. He was always her favourite out of the _Superfriends_ (ignoring Supergirl).

Alex sighed, “Okay, I guess you’re right.”

* * *

After that, they explained what Kara’s article was going to be about and went a bit more into depth about how Lena found Conner. However, soon it was late, and Conner was clearly getting cranky which only got worse due to his anxiety over strangers. So, Lena decided it was time to take him back to her penthouse. Despite Lena’s protests, Kara walked them down to meet her driver, whilst the rest of the _Superfriends_ waited in Kara’s apartment.

Conner gave Kara a tight hug and a goodbye. “Can I come around tomorrow after I submit the article?” Kara asked nervously.

Lena paused for a few moments. It was torture to be around Kara this long, she just wanted to succumb to desire to forgive Kara and forget Kara every moment they were together. However, she’d always been addicted to the Kryptonian since they met. Adding to that was the fact that Kara had every right to see Conner as much as possible and it was better for him to be around Kara too, perhaps she wouldn’t end up screwed him up if Kara was around.

She gave her a small smile, “Of course.” She then opened the door to her car. However, just before she went inside the car she turned back to the Girl of Steel. “Goodnight, Kara,” Lena told her softly, maybe her resolve had weakened more than she thought it had.

“Goodnight, Lena.” She replied with a sweet smile and Lena felt her heart squeeze when she got into the car and the car drove away from Kara Danvers. However, she knew that nothing would ever be the same again.


	5. Before it's too late

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world finds out about Conner and there are some consequences.

Kara waited with bated breath as Lena read through the article exposing _Conner Luthor_ to the world, they were sat in Lena’s office with Conner drawing in the far corner of the room. Lena put down the article with an approving nod, “Have you sent it to Andrea?”

She shook her head, “No, I wanted to see what you thought first.”

Lena hummed, “Thought so. No doubt she’ll scandalise it further.” Lena said with a sigh. She handed the piece of paper back to Kara.

“So, you like it?”

“You really do a talent for cover stories, Supergirl,” Lena stated coolly causing to sharply inhale and stop looking Lena in the eye. There were brief moments where Kara felt like they were getting back to normal and then Lena would remind her that they weren’t. However, Kara still had hope that they’d get back to how they once were and that maybe they could be something more after that.

The awkward tension was cut by Conner tugging on Kara’s coat and handing her a piece of paper. When Kara looked down at it she saw three distinct things which she thinks is meant to be people, “Wow, that’s really pretty.” She told him with a smile, and he grinned back up at her.

Then he turned to Lena wanting a reaction, he pointed at the person (?) on the left and said “Lena,” then to the person on the right “Kara,” and then to the smaller ones in the middle and said, “Conner.” He was smiling proudly at his work. For a three-year-old who probably didn’t draw until very recently, it was very good and Kara was proud of him.

“Very impressive, sweetheart,” Lena told him with a sweet smile. Kara couldn’t help but fall even further in love with the pair of them at the scene in front of her. The way Lena was looking at him reminded Kara of the time that made her fall in love with Lena; the fact that her heart was made of pure gold. If only she didn’t lie to Lena for years, everything could be so different, but she did lie to Lena and now everything was complicated between them.

* * *

It had been a week since the article had been published and it seemed like the whole of the country was wanting answers about Conner, not that Lena divulged any of them. Lena especially hated the ones about who the father was and those always triggered a glare in return. However, it seemed like the news cycle had finally moved on from them.

There was an irony to the article itself. It was one big lie that herself and Kara had fed to the world, a lie about the true identity of a Kryptonian. A very similar lie to the one she was so angry at Kara for and now here she was with Kara spreading this lie. Although, she supposed that the one difference was that they weren’t hiding the truth from those they cared about. Though, Kara didn’t hide her secret from the ones she cared about, only Lena.

Hating Kara was becoming harder by the day, it was easier when she didn’t have to see her every day and that wall which divided her feelings about Kara from her feelings back Supergirl was still up. However, now Kara checked in every night bringing some type of food and making sure that they were okay. It was so hard to stop herself opening up to Kara whenever the Super would smile at her. She was weak, especially when it came to Kara.

She didn’t know how she felt about Kara anymore if she was honest to herself. She wanted to hate her so, but recently it felt like she couldn’t even pretend to anymore. Before she found out who Kara really was, she was in love with her and she probably always had been. However, Kara had broken her heart and that almost destroyed her, almost drove her completely into the darkness. She couldn’t give in to her heart, no matter how much she wanted to. If Kara broke her heart again, Lena knew that if that happened, she may go too far into the darkness to ever return. She couldn’t allow herself to succumb to her demons anymore, Conner needed her, and she couldn’t let him down.

Her eyes drifted to Conner, who was sat on the couch in her office watching TV. She’d grown accustomed to him being here whilst she worked, not that she went into the office as much anymore. Herself and Kara had discussed childcare but decided it wasn’t the best time, Conner had only just gotten used to the _Superfriends_ and seemed to no longer be deathly afraid of strangers. There was also the fact that he was a Luthor and would be judged accordingly. It was easier at the moment for him to stay with them whilst they worked and by that, he said with Lena, perks of being the boss.

She was steadily working through some paperwork when she realised that she needed some other documents to cross-examine the figures. She rolled her eyes and pressed the intercom which connected to Jess’ desk, “Jess, can you send me up last month’s financial reports?” Lena asked and waiting for an answer. After about a minute with no reply, Lena tried again, “Jess?” This was strange, Jess was usually quite quick to reply to her.

Then all the electricity cut out. Something was definitely wrong. “Conner, come here.” She told him trying to remain calm for his sake. He gave her a confused look before walking over to her desk. She bent down and put her hands on his shoulders, “Just stay behind the desk.”

“What wrong?” He asked her in a small voice. He was clearly very worried and confused.

Lena gave him a tight smile, “Nothing, just don’t stay here no matter what happens.” She told him trying to calm him down whilst also keeping him safe. Then she stood up and grabbed the firearm she kept in her desk without him noticing, just in case something really was wrong.

A gunshot rang through the building.

After hearing that, Lena knew they were in grave danger. Then she remembered the watch in her pocket, she could practically hear Kara’s voice in her head telling her that this was exactly why she gave her the watch. Pressing that button meant admitting she needed Kara to come and save her, there was a sense of forgiveness in that sentiment. Her eyes drifted to the scared little boy to her right and she made up her mind.

She pulled the watch out of her pocket and flipped it open. She pressed the button and watched as the S symbol glowed. Lena tucked the watch back into her pocket and just hoped that Supergirl would be quick. At that moment the doors to her office burst open. Three heavily armed men entered her office with their guns raised.

* * *

Across the city, Kara was engaged in another argument about integrity with Andrea. She really disliked her, hell she maybe even hated her. It wasn’t just the fact that she was turning Catco into a clickbait tabloid or the fact that she was making Kara’s work life a living hell. But she was also a constant reminder of everything that happened with Lena. The CEO might’ve told her that she sold Catco to improve her capital flows, but Kara knew Lena had done it because she wanted to cut as many ties to Kara as possible. Catco was the best way to do it, she had brought it for Kara after all.

“You’re completely misleading the public!” Kara snapped in pure disgust, crossing her arms over her chest.

“If you don’t like it you could always just quit.”

Kara then heard a beating noise. It was the sound of a signal watch. Kara felt her heart drop, it was coming from L-Corp. She wasn’t sure what she replied to Andrea in her panic to get out of this conversation. Journalistic integrity be damned, Lena was in trouble. To only add to her worry, she knew that Conner was with her. The woman she loves, and her son were in danger, there wasn’t time to wait.

She focused her super hearing on L-Corp as she flew at top speed to get there in time. She had to get there in time. She heard Lena’s erratic heartbeat and the voice of someone she didn’t recognise, “You have to pay for everything your family has done, everyone they’ve hurt.”

A gunshot was fired.

Luckily, Supergirl arrived just in time to jump in front of the bullet. From behind her she heard Lena sigh a breath of relief. Their eyes met and they held eye contact for a few moments. Whereas, the assailants were stood frozen. When they came back to this world, they opened fire. Kara blocked each bullet and made Lena duck behind the desk. Her eyes found Conner, who was shaking behind the desk.

That made the reality of the situation sink in. They’d tried to kill Lena. What if Kara hadn’t been fast enough? They would’ve killed Lena and then probably Conner. A deep fury gripped Kara and she sent a strong blast of heat vision to one of them, knocking them into a wall. Her eyes still glowing, the thought of Lena’s potential death still plaguing her mind. She wanted to hurt them.

She throws a strong punch into one of their jaws, sending him back through Lena’s office doors with a loud crash. There was only one left, the one who fired on Lena. He raised his gun one more time, trying to fulfil his mission. Supergirl gripped the gun and crushed it with ease. He’d almost taken Lena from her. The man who tried to kill the woman she loved. She punched him in the chest knocking him to the floor with a loud thud.

She threw a fist into the side of his face, knocking him out and breaking more than one bone. If she had been in her right mind, she would’ve stopped. However, she wasn’t, she could’ve lost Lena and her son because of these assholes. She couldn’t curb her rage, she wanted to hurt them. She wanted to hurt them for trying to hurt the ones she loves.

“Supergirl.” She barely registered Lena’s voice from across the room, the rage clouding her senses. She raised her fist to strike him again. Just before she threw the punch, she felt Lena’s hand on her shoulder. “Kara.” She said in a whisper causing their eyes to meet. Just like the stone which Lena’s eyes resembled, Kara felt all the energy drain from her body breaking her from her rage.

They didn’t exchange words as Kara pulled her into a hug, she had to stop herself crushing Lena in her relief that she was okay. Lena returned the hug, allowing herself for a few moments to find some comfort in Kara’s arms, she’d almost died after all. Kara buried her head in her neck and whispered, “I almost lost you.” Her voice was shaking.

Lena swallowed hard and pulled back, but she didn’t leave Kara’s arms fully. Their faces were so close, and their eyes connected. They hadn’t been this close in a very long time and they definitely hadn’t been this vulnerable around each other since the fortress. “I’m okay… thanks to you.” Lena was the one to reluctantly pull away fully.

Kara took a calming breath and turned to the man on the floor. She could’ve killed him if Lena didn’t stop her, maybe there was a small part of her that wanted to deep down. She looked down at the specks of blood on her fist in shame. She shouldn’t have lost control. There had always been that side to her deep down, the side of her that would do anything to protect the ones she loved.

She watched as Lena’s security team finally arrived and dragged the three men away in handcuffs to give to the police. Kara didn’t take her eyes off them until they were out of sight, just in case they somehow had another trick up their sleeve to hurt Lena or Conner. She didn’t relax until she heard the police cars drive away from L-Corp and away from the ones she loves. 

She turned to Lena, who was holding Conner close. He had his face buried in her neck and she was rubbing his back. She walked over and he looked at her. She wiped away the tear from his face and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “It’s okay, the bad men are gone, no one can hurt you now.” She promised, her heart was breaking at his expression. She promised to protect him and she almost failed today.

“Promise?” He asked in a shaky voice.

“Promise. As long as there breath in my lungs no one will ever hurt you.” She promised both him with all the confidence she could muster. Her eyes meet Lena and she added, “Either of you.” With her spare hand, Lena put her hand on her forearm and have it a thankful squeeze. Kara didn’t know what all of this meant in the long term, but she didn’t care as long as it meant that Lena and Conner were okay and unharmed.

* * *

They went back to Lena’s penthouse after that, Kara wasn’t about to leave their side for a while. There had already been one assassination attempt and they didn’t know how far this all went. She’d asked Brainy to look into it, she wanted to know exactly who they were and if there was a possibility it would happen again. If there was that possibility she'd put a stop to it.

It was late and they’d put Conner to bed. Lena sat across from her deep in thought with a glass of wine in hand. There was a heavy silence between them as today’s events washed over them. Since Conner had come into their lives, they’d forgotten some the darkness surrounding their lives like he was a beam of light that kept the darkness at bay, but today brought it all rushing back.

Kara still couldn’t help wondering what would’ve happened if she hadn’t gotten there in time. What would’ve happened if Lena would’ve died. There was too much left unsaid between them. Too much left to unravel. Life was too short. Today just reminded Kara that everything could be ripped from her in a few moments. There was a chance that they could die at any moment. Kara risked her life every day and Lena was in near-constant danger.

She couldn’t wait for the right moment. Hell, maybe there would never be the _perfect moment_ , at least not for them. They were messy and complicated, but she’d almost lost Lena today and there was a chance that she wouldn’t be quick enough next time. She had to tell her, she’d never forgive herself if Lena died before she did or if she died before she could tell Lena the truth.

“Lena?” Green eyes snapped up to meet hers. Her heart was rapidly beating in her chest. She had to tell her before it was too late. She took a shaky breath and said, “I know that this isn’t the best time to be telling you this but after today I can’t risk waiting anymore because you deserve to know how I really feel.” Her hands were shaking but she steeled her nerve and admitted,

“I’m in love with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aren't cliffhangers fun? I'll get the next chapter out soon, I promise.


	6. How do you respond to that?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm in love with you". How the hell will Lena respond to that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and I promise this chapter won't end up on a cliffhanger. I've tortured you enough after the last chapter. Enjoy!

_“I’m in love with you.”_

Those five words rocked Lena to her core. Those five words that she’d wanted to hear for almost three years now. Those five words that meant that Kara returned her feelings. Over the years, Lena wondered how she’d feel if Kara ever muttered those five words. She imagined she’d be overjoyed, relieved and maybe just a bit shocked. However, that was all before she found out who Kara really was and now everything was different.

Months of trying to hate Kara for lying to her, the wound caused by Kara’s betrayal hadn’t yet healed. Months of burying how she really felt about her best friend. Before everything she was so sure about how she felt, she knew that she loved Kara. She knew that she loved Kara’s smile. She knew that she loved her heart of gold. She knew that she loved how selfless the other woman was. But everything was so different now.

Now, she didn’t know how she truly felt about Kara. She knew that she’d always love Kara, but she didn’t know if she was in love with the real Kara or just the mask she put on to hide her secret. She didn’t know if she could trust Kara with her heart anymore. Kara had broken her heart once, how could Lena be sure that she couldn’t just tear her heart out again.

Her eyes finally met Kara’s. “I don’t know what you want me to say.” _I don’t know what to say_. Lena’s head was a complete mess. Of course, there was that part of her that was jumping for joy that Kara loved her back. There was also a small voice in the back of her head whispering _if Kara really loved you then why lie to you?_ If she told Kara that she loved her back, then that would be forgetting everything that had recently happened. But if she didn’t then she was lying because she did love Kara back.

Kara gave her a small smile, “You don’t have to say anything.” Lena gave her a confused look, then what was the point of telling her this? “I just thought you deserve to know. You deserve the truth about how I feel about you, how I’ve always felt about you. This shouldn’t change anything, I still lied to you and you shouldn’t forgive me just because I’m in love with you.” Kara continued sincerely.

Lena wanted to scream about how this changed everything and that she did forgive Kara, but the Super was right; Kara had loved her when she lied to her. Really what was the difference? What was the difference between platonic love and romantic love really when it came to betrayal? Wasn’t it worse that Kara was in love with her but still lied?

Forgiveness was something Lena wasn’t all that familiar with. Growing up a Luthor taught her that forgiveness was for the weak. She’d never allowed herself to forgive those who hurt her. If someone had hurt her, why should she ever allow herself to be vulnerable around them again? How could she trust them not to hurt her again? Maybe Lena didn’t have the capacity to forgive.

However, when she looked into Kara’s eyes, she felt the urge to forgive. She felt the urge to let Kara prove to her that it wasn’t all just ploy to keep an eye on her. The urge to let herself bask in the warm Kara brought into her life. She’d had always processed the unique ability to crack Lena open and it took all she had to keep herself closed off to Kara.

It wasn’t strength that kept herself from forgiving Kara but instead it was her weakness. She was afraid of what would happen if she did learn to forgive. Afraid of what would happen if she let herself love Kara freely again. Afraid of what would happen if Kara did break her heart again. The truth was that if Lena was strong, she’d forgive Kara because, unlike what her family always told her, forgiveness wasn’t for the weak but for the brave. It took bravery to get over the fear of being hurt again. She wasn’t brave enough to trust Kara with her heart again. The truth was that Lena was weak.

“Kara, I just…” She trailed off trying to figure out what she wanted to say, what she felt. “I just need time.” She said honestly, she needed time to deceiver how she really felt about Kara.

An understanding smile appeared on Kara’s lips. “I know.” Kara took her hands and wrapped them in her own. Their eyes met and Lena could only see sincerity within them. “Take all the time you need. I’d wait forever for you.” Kara then stood up. That statement definitely caused Lena's heart to skip a beat, she wondered if Kara had noticed. “I’ll see myself out.” She told her softly.

Lena expected Kara to leave them, but the other woman leant down and pressed her lips to Lena’s cheek. She lingered for a moment before smiling at a stunned Lena. Had that just happened? Then before Lena could say anything she left through the balcony. Lena’s hand ghosted over where Kara’s lips had been, the skin burnt at the memory of Kara’s kiss.

God, Lena needed a drink and a strong one at that.

* * *

It had been a couple of days since Kara’s confession and she’d tried to give Lena some space to sort her head out. She didn’t fully disappear that wouldn’t be fair to Conner. It was slightly awkward, after all, Kara had admitted to being in love with her and that confession hung in the air between them. There were looks which they shared where Kara had to keep herself from kissing Lena right there. They’d always had heated looks but now everything was out in the open and the looks definitely meant something. However, Kara wasn’t going to make the next move, she’d wait to see where Lena wanted to go after this and whatever happened Kara would accept it.

However, tonight was slightly different as Lena was on a business trip to Japan for the weekend. Kara ignored the part of her brain telling her that Lena was using this as an excuse to get away from her. Lena’s trip also meant that Conner was sleeping at Kara’s weekend and Kara was slightly nervous. Sure, she’d looked after Conner alone before but he’d never spent a night away from Lena and she didn’t know how he was going to react. Also, what Kara really know about parenting, she’d been doing okay so far but that was only in short bursts. She just didn’t want to screw it up.

There was a knock-on Kara’s door and she answered it knowing who it would be already without having to use her X-ray vision. “Kara!” Conner shouted as she opened the door, the boy jumped into her arms and Kara easily caught him. She spun him around causing him to laugh loudly.

Her eyes turned to the woman still stood in her doorway. Lena was smiling softly at them and Kara felt breathless when their eyes met. Lena really was the most beautiful woman Kara had ever seen. “Hi,” Kara said to Lena, trying to not get lost in the other woman. She turned her attention back to Conner to achieve that goal. “How’s my little man?” She asked him, tickling his stomach.

He swatted her hands away whilst giggling. “Good. Can we get donuts again?” He said quickly getting down to what he really wanted.

“He really is your son,” Lena told her with a smirk.

Kara rolled her eyes playfully at the Luthor. “Nothing’s wrong with donuts, Lena.” She replied and Conner nodded his head in agreement.

Lena shook her head and handed Kara Conner’s weekend bag. She pressed a kiss to the top of Conner’s head, “Have a good weekend. I’ll see you on Sunday evening. I love you.” She told him and he smiled at her. Lena looked up at Kara with a small smile, it was clear that she was unsure what to say. “Have a good weekend, Kara.” She said her hand on Kara’s shoulder.

“Don’t work yourself to death.”

Lena gave her a small smile, “Bye Kara.”

“Bye Lena.” Kara would be lying if she said she didn’t watch Lena walk down the corridor and until she was out of sight, she’d always found it hard to take her eyes off Lena. At least, now Kara knew the reason for why she had the constant urge to look at Lena, she was in love with her after all. Plus have you seen Lena? She's the most beautiful thing in the universe.

* * *

Friday night went off without much of a hitch. They had dinner (and Conner did steal half of her potstickers) and they watched way too many Disney movies (not that either of them was complaining). The one thing Kara dreaded was the possibility that Supergirl would be needed. However, Alex told her that they’d only call her in case of a real emergency and the rest of the Superfriends said they’d look after the city with the more manageable stuff. Luckily, Supergirl wasn’t needed and she could spend the night with her son.

The next day, they ended up going to the zoo and getting ice cream (and if Lena asked it was Conner’s idea to get ice cream). Conner was a little bit apprehensive about the masses of people but after Kara showed him monkey exhibitions, he began to enjoy himself and forgot about his worries. Kara wasn’t sure what she was so worried about when the weekend began.

Of course, later that night was game night. She thought about cancelling but she wanted her son to actually get comfortable around her family. She’d also cleared with Lena, who looked at her oddly when Kara asked confused why Kara even asked her that and replied “He’s your son too, Kara. Your friends deserve to know him.” Kara did catch the fact that Lena called them Kara’s friends, not their friends. She knew that Lena needed time and that they’d also hurt Lena by lying about Kara, just another thing to add to Kara’s guilt.

As always Alex was the first to arrive. They hugged when Alex arrived, and Kara ignored the look her son threw her sister. After a couple of minutes, Conner was eyeing Alex cautiously but was no longer glaring, Kara took that as a small victory. “Why does he hate me?” Alex asked curiously.

“Because every time you’ve seen him, you’ve argued with Lena,” Kara explained, she’d already drawn that conclusion a while ago.

Alex rolled her eyes, “She starts it.”

“You did threaten to blow her up.”

Alex sighed, “It was her or potentially the world, Kara and I wasn’t willing to risk the world for her.” The implication that Kara was willing to risk the world for Lena wasn’t lost on either of them. “Also, I’ve apologized on multiple occasions,” Alex added which was true. It was still tense, and Lena was more apprehensive to be more open with Alex after Alex had assumed the worst of her when push came to shove.

Kara gave her a weak smile, “I know and I’m proud of you. But we hurt her, I hurt her, and Lena just needs time.” She told Alex with a shrug. “Though it would help if you didn’t argue like kids when you’re together.” She added with a cheeky grin, earning a shove from her sister. There was then a knock on the door and Alex stood up to open it. Before she did, she turned to Kara and stuck her tongue out at her, “Real mature, Alex.” Kara mocked with a laugh.

Soon the rest of their friends filled into the apartment and they paired off. Of course, the Danvers sisters demanded they got to team up after they weren’t allowed to last week and after some complaining, they got their way. So, it was Kara and Alex, Brainy and Nia, J’onn and Kelly (because relationships be damned when it came to game night). Kara had promised herself that she wouldn’t get too competitive due to the toddler in their presence.

Speaking of Conner, he’d betrayed them about halfway through the first round and decided he was now on Nia’s team. He’d liked Nia ever since she swung around Kara’s apartment with donuts whilst Conner was there, the way to his heart was totally through his stomach and Kara couldn’t be prouder. Through that didn’t mean she wasn’t offended, “My own son, the betrayal.” Kara said dramatically causing all her friends to laugh at her, causing Kara to pout.

“Sorry, Kara but Conner is too cool for you losers.” Nia teased with a smirk and both the Danvers sisters rolled their eyes, they were only losing by one point and that was only because Brainy was totally cheating, not that they could prove it right now. They couldn’t lose now.

They did end up winning that round, Kara let herself become competitive. She couldn’t lose when her son was watching and it was an added bonus to rub it into Brainy and Nia’s faces. Conner soon decided that he wanted to go to the only responsible adults (Kelly and J’onn). He ended up spending three rounds with them as the other two pairs descended into competitive chaos. “Can’t tell who’s the bigger kid, the three-year-old or those four,” Kelly muttered to J’onn as Conner was in a fit of giggles at their antics.

“There is a near 99% chance that you are going down,” Brainy told Kara and Alex as he moved his and Nia’s piece forward two spaces. Alex in response threw a chip at his head and Kara stuck out her tongue. Conner was definitely enjoying the show the four of them were putting on.

“Definitely those four.” J’onn replied rolling his eyes affectionately at them. At least, Conner wasn’t throwing food.

Another round came and went before Conner tapped Kara on the leg. This broke Kara out of the latest round of trash talking they were partaking in. She turned to look at him with a smile, “What’s up, buddy?” He didn’t reply and just sat next to her cuddling into her side. She wrapped her arm around him, he was clearly getting tired. “Do you want to go to bed?” She whispered ignoring Nia celebrating them moving another space in front of them.

He spoke his head, “No.” He was clearly fighting the urge to close his eyes. “Fun.” He added with a yawn and closing his eyes for a moment. Kara couldn’t help but feel her heart swell at that. Conner’s eyes shot open.

Kara decided to humour him, he wasn’t going to let himself fall asleep anytime soon. She picked him up and put him on her knee, her arms wrapped around him. “Okay, we need you to win the game for us,” Kara told him as she turned her attention back to the game.

“How?” He asked tilting his head in confusion.

“Throw the dice and roll us the right number,” Alex told him softly handing him the pair of dice. Conner gave her a smile and thanked her as he took the dice, Alex smiled back at him. That look that they shared made Kara’s whole night. Yes, she cared about Conner bonding with her friends but what she cared about most was Conner and Alex bonding. It may only be a smile, but it was definitely better than nothing.

He threw the dice how he saw the rest of the adults doing it all night and ended up rolling double sixes, winning them the game and game night as a whole. “I’ve never loved anyone more than this kid right now!” Alex shouted as she ruffled his hair causing him to giggle. They then proceeded to celebration in a very over the top manner, Conner laughing along with the pair of them.

They stopped and just ended up talking. It took only ten minutes for Conner to be softly snoring against Kara’s chest. She put him to bed, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead as she tucked him in. She gave him one last look before turning off the light and closing the door partially. She’d been so scared about screwing up all weekend, but it turned out she had nothing to worry about. The last two days had been some of the best of her life. She just wished Lena was here to see all of this.


	7. Japan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena travels to Japan and is met by an old friend.

When the subject of Lena going to Japan first came up in a board meeting, she brushed it off. It was a business meeting with some important investors, but she knew that she could delegate it to those working in her Japanese division. However, then one lab blew up in Tokyo and her investors got spoked she knew that she had to show her face to get the deal across the line.

She wasn’t thrilled about the prospect, it would a weekend of stroking egos of men who thought they knew better than her. Sure, her board was full of people with similar beliefs but at least most of them were vaguely competent. There was something that annoyed her about her overseas branches holding similar beliefs, maybe it was because she had to keep bailing them out every other week.

Adding to all of this was that she had to leave Conner for the weekend. She knew that Kara could handle looking after him, hell, she’d probably do a better job than Lena did, but it was unnerving none-the-less. It was his reaction to her leaving that worried her, he was a sensitive kid and she didn’t want him to feel like she’d abandoned him. Lena knew how she used to feel when her father would leave for business and she didn’t want Conner to feel the same sense of abandonment like Lena didn’t care.

Then there was the subject of Kara and how she felt about Kara. Lena had never been any good at sorting her own feelings, a consequence of her upbringing. She’d been taught that her emotions were weaknesses, they were the things holding people back from being truly great. She was taught forgiving someone was akin to losing and she was taught to always win. She was taught that love only lived in fairy tales and only the stupid pursued it. She was taught that aliens were evil. Oh, how the rest of her family would react to the news that Lena was on the verge of forgiving the alien she loved more than anything.

Over the last couple of days, Lena had thought a lot about her and Kara’s past. Yes, there were still moments that pointed to the idea that their friendship had been a hoax to keep an eye on her, to make sure that she wasn’t Lex. She still remembered Supergirl’s reaction to her having Kryptonite, her reaction to Lena knowing about Reign’s real identity (the irony wasn’t lost on Lena).

However, she still remembers the moments that made her fall in love with Kara. She still remembers the moment the whole world turned against her and all the evidenced point to her being a member of Cadmus, but despite all of that Kara believed in her. If Kara really thought she was evil, why would she continue fighting for Lena if she didn’t trust her? She remembered every time Kara told anyone she could that the Luthor name didn’t deserve Lena. She remembered every time their eyes locked, and they shared _that_ look. She remembered every time Kara bypassed one of her walls like it wasn’t even there. She remembered every time Kara made her feel special. She remembered Kara telling her that she was in love with her. All of that couldn’t be a lie.

The real issue was trust. She’d come to the conclusion that Kara was genuine in the majority of their relationship, that it wasn’t all a lie. However, Lena feared if she trusted Kara again that she’d break her heart. The message that was seared into her brain the most from her childhood was to never trust people. The only person Lena could trust was herself and she had to guard herself against the whole world. Life experience reinforced that idea. Trust was the reason why couldn’t truly forgive Kara because if Lena did forgive Kara, she’d leave herself open to Kara again. She’d have to trust that Kara wouldn’t break her heart again.

There was another reason why she couldn’t allow herself to forgive Kara. This issue was another that came from her childhood, her ingrained sense of self-loathing. Lena knew that she didn’t deserve Kara. She didn’t deserve someone so selfless, so brave and so good. Kara had a heart of pure gold and Lena didn’t deserve to be loved by someone so pure. Lena had almost become everything she never wanted to be; a villain. She was broken beyond repair at this point.

Then there was Conner. He was a ray of pure sunlight, much like Kara, and she didn’t deserve him either. Maybe it would be better if she just left National City. Wouldn’t it better for Kara and Conner if Lena just left? Wouldn’t they be happier without her screwing up their lives? She was a black hole if she stayed wouldn’t she suck all of the light from their light? It wasn’t fair to them.

“Hey, Luthor.” A familiar voice said from behind her.

Lena turned and saw Samantha Arias smirking at her. “What the hell are you doing here?” Lena asked as she pulled Sam into a hug.

“Well, I heard you were actually attending, and I thought you’d need someone to you sane.” She explained with a smile with Lena returned. “Also, I read this crazy article about you having a three-year-old, well I thought it was insane until I looked at the by-line,” Sam added, whilst there wasn’t a question in that statement it was clear that she had many.

Lena cringed. “It’s a big complicated mess.”

“Good thing I brought a big bottle of wine.”

Lena chuckled, “I’ll explain after this meeting, okay?” Sam nodded and they went into the meeting room together.

* * *

The pair were sat on the balcony of Lena’s hotel room looking out at the city. Sam passed her a glass of wine and looked at her expectantly. “Do you remember me telling you about my mother’s terrorist organisation?” Lena stated, ignoring the absurdity of her life. Sam nodded, “Well, my mother had the bright idea to create a clone of a Kryptonian and a human. They called him Kon-El.”

“The kid from the article is called Conner, he’s the clone.”

Lena nodded at Sam’s statement. “Yes, I found him in an old Cadmus lab a month ago. I soon discovered that he is in fact, my son.”

Sam placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Are you okay? Speaking from experience I know how hard this must be for you.” She said softly and Lena was reminded how much she actually missed having a friend at that moment. She’d spent the last few months isolating herself from her friends that she forgot what it was like to have someone actually care about her wellbeing.

“It was a shock at first but I’m handling it as well as to be expected. He’s a good kid and there haven’t been many problems so far. That is ignoring the broken furniture but he’s half-Kryptonian so it’s to be expected.” Lena said taking a sip of her wine with a shrug.

“Half-Kryptonian?” Lena knew that Sam was subtly trying to ask who the other parent was.

“Supergirl is his other parent.”

Sam took a big swig of her wine as she mulled over that information. “Wow, that’s…”

Lena laughed, “Yeah as I said it’s complicated.”

After Sam recovered from her shock at the bomb Lena just dropped on her, she asked, “How’d the Girl of Steel take that news considering your tense relationship?” Sam also remembered everything that happened when Supergirl found out about Lena helping her.

“Better than you’d expect, she was shocked for sure but Supergirl is stupidly perfect and that trait makes her great with him. As for us, we’re still trying to figure out what this means for us.” Lena explained, she really did find it annoying how Kara was just perfection in every aspect of her life. Stupid, perfect Kara making it impossible for Lena to stay mad at her.

Sam then asked about what he was like and Lena began to explain all the great thing about her son. Much like Kara, he was perfect in every possible way. She then asked about how Ruby was and how their life in Metropolis was going. Then Sam smirked at her, “How’s Kara taking the news?” Lena furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Hadn’t Sam already asked about Kara? The realisation soon struck Lena that Sam didn’t know, she always assumed that Sam did and had been in on the lie. Sam chuckled, obvious to the real reason why Lena was confused. “You know because she’s in love with you. I know that if I found out that the woman I loved had a kid with another woman, I wouldn’t take it that well.”

If Sam hadn’t lied to Lena, that meant that she could trust Sam. That meant that Sam was the only person in Lena’s life that hadn’t lied to her, that she was the only person in her life that Lena could trust. “Speaking about Kara, I need your advice.” Sam nodded signalling for her to continue. “Kara lied to me; she’s been lying to me since I meet her. Everyone knew and kept it from me for years. Everyone but you that is.”

“What about?”

Lena thought about her answer to that question. She’d been mad at everyone for lying to her about Kara. If she didn’t tell Sam wouldn’t she be doing the same thing? Wouldn’t it make her a hypocrite? However, it wasn’t her secret to tell and could she really justify telling Sam without Kara’s consent? Although Lena wasn’t mad at her former friends for keeping Kara’s secret, rather she was mad about them all turning on her as soon as they got the chance. “That’s actually part of my dilemma. Would you be mad at me for not telling you?”

“Is it your secret to tell?” Lena shook her head. “Does it hurt me by not knowing?” Lena once again shook her head, despite, Sam’s past she wasn’t in danger by not knowing that Kara was Supergirl. “Then no, let Kara tell me when if she wants to.” Lena stared at Sam for a few moments. Maybe Lena had overreacted by shunning all of their friends after finding out.

Lena decided to change the subject to Kara. “Kara broke my heart when I found out.” Lena swallowed hard and began to explain how she found out, “I killed Lex and with his dying breath he exposed the truth about Kara.” Sam didn’t say anything but instead, she pulled a tight hug. Lena returned it and allowed Sam to comfort her, she really needed a hug if she was honest.

“I’m so sorry,” Sam said she pulled out of the hug.

Lena took a shaky breath. “Kara told me the truth at the Pulitzer awards but by that point, it had been months of me trying so hard to hate her. Then a couple of days ago she told me that she’s in love me and I don’t know how I feel about any of this. Then there’s Conner and it’s just so complicated.”

“Listen Kara does love you. I’ve seen the way that girl looks at you. She looks at you like you put the stars in the sky and everyone can see that she’s in love with you. If she lied, she probably did it to protect you and because she’s so afraid to lose you. I think losing you is Kara’s greatest fear and I know you love her back.” Sam told her softly like Lena was a wounded animal who was about to dash at the slightest sign of danger.

Lena sighed, “I know that. I know that Kara’s in love with me and I know that I’m in love with her. Hell, I’m not even mad anymore.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

“I’m afraid to trust her again, to let myself love her again.”

Sam gave her a small smile. “Sweetie, that’s a good thing.” Lena gave her a confused look. “Falling in love is scary. But you’ll never be happy unless you let yourself fall and you just have to trust that Kara will be there to catch you when you do. She broke your trust once, but you’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you don’t trust her again.” Lena knew that Sam was right. However, Lena was a coward and she was weak. Sam wrapped her arm around Lena’s shoulders. “Just take a chance on Kara. Not many people get second chances.”

“How do you know that this is our second chance?”

“Because if anyone deserves one, it’s you and Kara. You just have to take a chance on Kara.”

“I want to but-“ Lena began but was swiftly cut off.

“Then take the leap, Lena,” Sam told her assertively.

Lena thought it over for a few moments. She knew that Sam was right and that she needed to at least try to trust Kara again. But in order to do so, she had to go against everything she’d ever been told to do. She didn’t know if she was strong enough to do it. Then Lena remembered the fact that Kara always believed the best in Lena, maybe for once in her life Lena could do the same.

“I’ll try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick question. Would you guys want me to bring back Sam (and Ruby of course) permanently? I know that if I do that I won't be able to help myself and make AgentReign a thing, so I dunno if anyone would want that because in the story I technically have Alex and Kelly still being a thing. Also, it would probably take away from Supercorp and Conner. It's up to you guys though.


	8. It's time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena returns from Japan with something to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took a while, I've been busy with going back to university and by the time my exams were over, it was close to Crisis so I decided to see what actually happened and see if I can incorporate it into the story. I'm not going to drop any spoilers, but that definitely won't be happening as it would just complicate everything. So, this story follows Earth-38 cannon.   
> Anyway, thanks for your feedback over the whole Sam thing, it was appreciated. Still not 100% sure what will happen.   
> Enjoy!!

Both Kara and Conner stared triumphantly at the cake that sat in front of them. It took three attempts as they burnt the first two but this one looked great. They’d also iced it themselves with Kara writing “Welcome Home!” on the top of it, Conner had done various different patterns across. If you asked either of them, it looked good and people said Kara couldn’t bake. They’d decided to bake a cake this morning to give to Lena when she arrived home that afternoon.

Just after they finished cleaning up and the smell of burnt cake finally left Kara’s apartment, there was a knock on the door. Using her x-ray vision Kara saw Lena standing on the other side. Kara walked over and ignoring the fact that her heart was pounding out of her chest. She opened the door with a wide smile.

Lena returned the smile, which made Kara smile even wider. The smile represented a victory for Kara, she knew that the road of reconciliation would be long but this was definitely a step in the right direction. “Hey, how was the business trip?” Kara asked as she fully let Lena into the apartment.

The CEO was about to reply but was cut off by a woosh of air and Conner jumping into her arms. He’d just started to exbibit that certain power the day before Lena left. Luckily, Lena recovered quickly enough and caught him after a brief second. He began talking a mile a minute as he talked about the weekend that he and Kara had, “We also made you a cake!” Conner finished pointing towards their cake with a megawatt grin. Kara was watching the scene with a smile.

Lena gave him a soft smile, the kind that she only reserved for those she honestly cared about, “That’s very sweet, thank you.” She said kissing his cheek. Conner quickly asked if they could have cake now. They allowed it as they weren’t going to be having dinner for an hour or two.

Conner was stood patiently waiting for cake when Lena walked up behind Kara who’d cut a piece. “You know this actually looks really good,” Lena said like she couldn’t actually believe what she was looking at. Kara handed her the first piece, as they wanted Lena to try it first.

“She said with shock in her voice for some reason,” Kara replied rolling her eyes. 

“I’ve eaten your cooking, Danvers.”

Kara gasped, “I can cook!” Kara replied pouting at Lena who just hummed in disbelief. Kara tried to keep the smile off her face, she really did but her lips turned upwards anyway. She’d missed the playful way her and Lena interacted, another step in the right direction.

Lena took a bite of the cake, with both Conner and Kara watching her reaction. She watched as Lena visibly gagged, she quickly recovered to spare Conner’s feeling, but Kara noticed. She even forced herself to swallow it and smiled at Conner. “Yummy but I think we should actually wait until after dinner so we can have ice cream with it.” She told Conner and after a couple of seconds, he agreed as this way he’d get both cake and ice cream.

Soon Conner got distracted watching cartoons and Kara watched as Lena washed her mouth out. “It couldn’t be that bad,” Kara whispered looking at the cake, making sure that Conner couldn’t hear their conversation.

“Try it,” Lena told her and after tasting the cake, Kara couldn’t help but agree. She spat it out. If Lena guessed what Kara had done wrong, she’d guess that she’d put in salt instead of sugar. “You really should be banned from the kitchen, Kara,” Lena told her smirking and placed a hand on her upper arm.

Kara huffed and didn’t let herself get distracted by Lena’s touch or the way it burned, “Sorry for the cake sucking.” She really wanted to surprise Lena for when she got home. She knew that Lena always hated those trips and she wanted Lena to have something nice to come home too, to help cheer her up. Kara eyed the cake again; why did this always happen?

“Thank you anyway,” Lena told her sincerely and pressed a kiss to Kara’s cheek. “It’s the thought that counts.” She told her before walking over to their son. Kara’s hand ghosted on where Lena’s lips were, and it took her a few moments to recover from her shock to join the two of them. _Had Lena just kissed her cheek? What did that mean?_ Kara threw all those questions out of her head when her eyes connected with Lena’s. She didn’t care what it meant as long as it kept on happening.

* * *

The rest of the night was relaxed, as Lena was clearly exhausted from her business trip. They just watched some movies and had takeout (“You’ve already poisoned me once.” Lena had told her when Kara suggested she make something for them). They both put Conner to bed, with Kara telling him a bedtime story she remembered her mother once told her when she was his age.

Kara knew that Lena wanted to speak to her about something important, she could feel the tension hanging over them once they were alone. She also decided to ignore the way Lena kept looking at her when she thought Kara wasn’t looking at her. However, she didn’t push the issue. She’d wait until Lena was ready to talk to her. She’d respect Lena’s privacy and wait until she was comfortable to tell her.

It stayed like that for a couple of days. Kara wasn’t sure if it was because Lena was busy with L-Corp or because Lena was avoiding actually talking to her about it. Not that the two were mutually exclusive. However, Kara remained patient and waited for Lena to bring up whatever was bothering her.

Although something had changed, even in their brief interactions Maybe it was because Kara had finally confessed her true feelings (something they hadn’t talked about either) but something was definitely off about the way Lena was acting around her. The one thing Kara wasn’t certain of was whether it was a good or a bad thing yet.

They’d put Conner to bed for the night and were fully alone. Kara was in the middle of explaining this new article she was writing. It was nice to be able to talk to Lena about the smaller things again, it was one of the things she missed most about her friendship with Lena. She always loved hearing Lena’s opinions about what she was writing about, she just loved the way Lena’s mind worked.

“I think it could really help people see the other person’s side-“ Kara stopped when she noticed that Lena was in deep thought about something that was clearly bothering her. Kara knew that shouldn’t pry and should just wait to see if Lena wanted to talk to her, but she really didn’t seem okay. So, Kara asked her, “Are you okay?”

Lena’s head snapped up as Kara broke her chain of thought. “I’m fine, Kara. It sounds like a great story.” Lena told her and Kara could see straight through the lie. Once again Kara was going to continue, she wasn’t going to push Lena, she’d wait for Lena to talk to her. Her lying clearly meant that she didn’t want to talk to Kara about it. However, then Lena’s expression switched like she’d finally snapped, and she said, “Actually I’m not.”

“You’re not what?” Kara asked confused at what Lena was talking about.

Lena sighed, “I’m not fine with us.”

Kara inhaled sharply at Lena’s words. The tension between them since Lena got back was because she felt uncomfortable about them getting closer again. Why was she so stupid to think that Lena was close to forgiving her? “I didn’t mean to push any boundaries, I swear. I’ll just go.” Kara told her quickly, trying to not look or sound too crushed.

She got up to leave, but Lena’s hand grabbed her forearm. “Don’t go.” Kara froze at Lena’s words, they were spoken softly but also with resolve. Kara sat back down looking confused if Lena had a problem with them why didn’t she want Kara to leave? “I don’t want to go, Kara. I’ve been thinking a lot about us and I think I’ve figured how I feel and what I want.” Lena explained, she was speaking carefully making sure that each word was the right one.

“Oh,” Kara said trying not to convey the way her heart was racing or the hope that Lena was finally ready to open up to her fully. “How do you feel about us?”

Lena took a deep breath, “I forgive you, Kara.”

“Are you sure? I mean I really hurt you and you don’t have to force yourself to forgive me just because of Conner or because of what I told you. I meant it when I said I’d wait forever and-“ Kara rambled, trying to keep a grin from appearing on her lips. She had to make sure that Lena wasn’t forcing herself to do this.

“Kara, I’m sure,” Lena said cutting her off. She gave her a smile which Kara returned. She’d thought about this day a thousand times since everything happened and she had hoped that it would eventually happen. However, nothing she imagined could compare to the feeling she felt right now. It was a similar feeling to when she was flying, but slightly better. “I think I forgave you a while ago.”

Kara’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I forgave you without realising it myself. The more I thought about it, I’ve been lying to myself and making myself hate you because I thought that if I let myself forgive, you’d hurt me again. I was afraid that you’d break my trust again.” Lena explained and Kara nodded understanding what Lena meant.

“What changed?”

Lena sighed clearly picking her words carefully and began speaking again, “I realised that I’ve been happier these last few months with you back in my life than I was when you weren’t. I realised that despite my greatest efforts, I can’t let you go. You’re an inevitability, Kara Zor-El and I’m tired of denying that anymore.”

Kara still wasn’t sure what all of this meant, she didn’t know where Lena wanted to go from here. Kara knew that she had made herself clear how she felt about Lena. That’s why Kara couldn’t let herself get lost in Lena’s eyes or her words, she had to control herself. She had to respect Lena’s boundaries. Kara took a deep breath to slow down her heartbeat, “What does that mean, Lena?”

“I want to try to go back to the way things were between us.”

_Back to the way things were._ That meant they’d go back to being best friends, right? That was what Kara had wanted, right? Of course, Kara was happy, she was happy that Lena was going to be back into her life. When everything went to hell this was the thing which Kara wanted most, Lena to continue to be her best friend. But so much had changed since then.

Conner had come into their lives. Kara had realised and confessed that she was in love with Lena. Could they really go back to the way things were? Wasn’t them going back to the way things were ignoring everything that had happened? She should be ecstatic. 

Ultimately them going back to the way things were meant that Lena didn’t love her back. That hurt, it really hurt. Kara felt her heartbreak slightly. This was all her own fault anyway, she shouldn’t have assumed the way Lena felt about her. But everyone, and she meant everyone, kept on telling her that Lena returned her feelings. Alex had called them soulmates on more than one occasion. But everyone was wrong, Lena didn’t love her back.

Kara pushed her heartbreak to the back of her mind and concentrated on the fact that Lena was going to be back in her life. This was better than nothing. They’d be able to have lunch together again. Lena would hopefully come back to games night and they could be partners again. This was a good thing and Kara should act like it. “That’s what I want as well,” Kara replied grinning at Lena.

Lena smiled back at her, the kind that caused Kara’s heart to usually flutter. However, now with the knowledge that the smile was nothing more, it felt like Lena had plunged a dagger into her heart. “I’m trusting not to hurt me again, Kara. I don’t think I could survive you breaking my heart again.”

Kara once again ignored the way her heart ached. It wasn’t fair to make Lena feel guilty, it wasn’t her fault that Lena didn’t love her back. You can’t force people to love you back, no matter how much you try. “I won’t, I promise,” Kara told her taking Lena’s hands in her own. “I swear to Rao, I’ll never break your trust again. Lying to you was the worst mistake of my life.” Kara said sincerely and she really meant it.

She’d screwed up once before, she’d never do it again.

* * *

**_Six Months Later…._ **

Do you know the biggest problem with being a superhero whilst also being a parent? Well, Kara was quickly becoming all too familiar. Every single time she was on her way to pick up Conner from preschool (something her and Lena had decided Conner was ready for three months ago), some superpowered criminal decided to start trouble. Was the universe trying to make her a bad parent?

Luckily, this certain alien didn’t take too long to be taken care off, mostly due to Kara’s annoyance about having to be late again. That meant that she only arrived ten minutes late, not that the snotty teachers cared much, they just saw that Kara kept on being late. They’d sent Conner to some fancy private school with annual tuition that caused Kara to do a double-take to Lena’s complete amusement.

Kara slides her glasses back into place and arrived at the collection point trying to not look too flustered. “Kara Danvers, I’m here to pick up Conner Luthor.” She told the woman in front of her, the woman looked her up and down with disdain in her eyes. The teachers at said school were as obnoxious as they came, or they were to Kara at least. When she was with Lena they changed their tune completely, all smiles and handshakes.

“Late once again, Miss. Danvers.” The woman noted as she sent another person to go get Conner.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, she couldn’t just let the guy terrorise downtown. Kara crossed her arms over her chest. “I was held up at the office.” She lied; it was a good enough excuse and it wasn’t like she could actually explain what she was doing.

The woman just hummed disapprovingly. “I’m surprised Miss Luthor still trusts you to pick her son up.” Kara was about to reply when she saw Conner walking over to them with a grin. She glared at her and went over to her son letting the issue go. She signed the sign out form.

Kara took Conner’s bag in one hand and picked him up with the other. Then left the school, ignoring the rude comment the woman made about reporters. “Can we fly home?” Conner whispered with a cheeky grin. Kara had done that once and Lena had almost murdered her for it. If they did it again, Kara knew that Lena might actually follow through and actually kill her.

“No, we can’t.”

A pout quickly appeared on his lips and he was giving her his best puppy eyes. “Pleaseeee, mama.” He whined batting his eyelashes. Conner had begun calling Kara mama and Lena mom a few months back after they explained that they were his parents a few months back. They’d also explained that they couldn’t call Kara that to anyone else (baring the Superfriends) and that he couldn’t tell anyone about his own powers or Kara’s.

Kara levelled him with a look to tell him to knock it off and was trying to channel the way Lena always did it. It didn’t work, but Kara held firm. “I said no.” She said sternly. After a few moments, she gave him a smile, “Now let’s go get your mom and we can go home. Alright?” He nodded enthusiastically and they began walking to L-Corp.


	9. The End.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena reflects over the last 6 months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm back from the dead. I've been really busy with college and all that but I knew that I needed to finish this story. So here's the ending. I hope you enjoyed the journey.

The small moments were always Lena’s favourite. The moments when the two people she loved the most made her heart swell. One of those moments was occurring before her very eyes, Kara was playing with Conner, chasing him around as he laughed his head off. They were out in the garden of the new mansion Lena had bought a few months ago. It was on the outskirts of the city and provided a nice change. Unlike the old Luthor Mansion, was light and modern. She’d decided to move from her apartment due to various reasons but all of them had something to do with Conner. For one, she knew that it wasn’t safe to have a toddler in a penthouse. Also, she knew that soon enough more of his powers would come in and she hoped being away from the city might make it more manageable for everyone involved.

Conner’s powers were slightly unpredictable at times. Both her and Kara were keeping a very close eye on it. He’d definitely developed some super strength, he couldn’t quite bend steel, but he could definitely dent it. His speed was also evident, but he couldn’t become the blur like Kara could but definitely ran faster than your average adult. The same went for his leaping. Luckily, his super-senses hadn’t kicked in yet, but they’d still given him glasses just in case they did. The more advanced abilities like heat vision, freeze breathe, and flight luckily weren’t even in their infancy. These wouldn’t develop for a while according to Superman’s adoptive parents.

Kara had asked Superman’s adoptive parents for advice about dealing with Conner’s powers coming through and a brief idea when they might come through. Superman, himself, was still on Argo so wasn’t much help. But they’d found out that most of Superman’s powers developed as he aged, which more confirmed their running theory. However, it was comforting to have some idea of what was going on.

As Lena watched her two favourite people enjoy themselves, she thought about the last six months and back to the moment, she let Kara back into her life. Lena was happy that she’d done it and didn’t regret trusting Kara again. However, she did regret how she did it. Back then she wasn’t sure about how she truly felt about Kara anymore. Truthfully, Lena wasn’t ready to act on her feelings back then. They were still confusing, and Lena wanted to make sure that she wasn’t just in love with the charade of Kara Danvers, so she didn’t tell Kara that one day she might want more.

As the weeks passed and a sense of normalcy returned to their relationship, Lena began to unpick all of those messy feelings she had about Kara. She began by forgiving Kara fully for lying to her, that was easy. She then began to fill in the gaps about her best friend, Lena had fallen for Kara Danvers. However, what Lena needed to know was which version of Kara was the mask; Kara Danvers or Supergirl or maybe behind it all Kara Zor-El was a mix of both.

Lena decided that under it all Kara was still the girl who was allergic to anything healthy, cried at Disney movies, rambled when she was nervous. But she could now see that Kara carried the weight of two worlds on her shoulders, she carried the ghosts of Krypton with her always and she carried the responsibly of being Earth’s greatest hero. She was selfless, kind and a ray of pure sunlight.

Lena knew from the moment she met Kara she knew that there was more to her than meet the eye. As time went on, that feeling that there was still more to Kara persisted but now Lena feels like she’s finally seeing the true Kara. She’d listened to Kara’s stories about her childhood and Krypton, then she began actively asking when she realised Kara loved telling her about her home, about Krypton. When Kara talked about her home, her eyes shone, and she spoke animatedly about all the best things from her homeworld.

Kara also told her various stories that weren’t as happy. She told Lena about the complicated role her mother played in Krypton’s destruction, the guilt she felt about surviving when so many didn’t and the fact that she’d never truly be normal again. One conversation was still permanently burnt into her brain, the time when Kara confessed that in her darkest moments, she sometimes wishes that she had died on Krypton.

Lena began to piece together who exactly Kara Zor-El was, she realised that all the things she loved about Kara Danvers were there. Kara Zor-El was Kara Danvers for the most part but some of the holes were now filled by Supergirl. Soon Lena forgot how to tell the difference anymore between Supergirl and Kara Danvers, to her they were both the same person now, not two masks hiding the truth from her. That person was the woman Lena was in love with.

The only problem was that this revelation happened too late. By the time Lena was sure that her feelings were directed at someone real and not just a mask, it had been months. The conversations that made her sure about her feelings hadn’t happened all within a couple of days but instead happened during their slow road to full reconciliation. However, by the time Lena’s picture of the true Kara had finally formed, she knew too much time had passed.

Ever since Lena had decided to trust Kara again, Kara hadn’t mentioned the fact that she was in love with Lena or at least that she was. Lena had dropped hints, but Kara just brushed them off and continued. It was clear that Kara had gotten over her feelings or that they weren’t truly there in the first place. But there were moments here and there when their eyes would connect, and Lena would feel a flicker of hope that maybe it wasn’t too late.

However, the bigger problem that Lena faced was the same problem she’d faced for years now, she was absolutely terrified was telling Kara how she truly felt. Maybe it was the fear of rejection. Maybe she was afraid to truly bare her soul to the person whose opinion she valued the most. Maybe she was afraid of getting her heartbroken again. It was probably a mix of all three, but never-the-less Lena didn’t know if she could tell Kara the truth, at least not yet.

The peace was broken by Kara’s phone going off and from the Kryptonian’s tone, Lena knew that it was Alex on the other end telling her that Supergirl was needed. She watched Kara sigh, press a kiss to Conner’s forehead and say something quietly to him. Blue then meet green and for a moment the whole world disappeared, it was just them. However, their little bubble was broken when Kara explained that there was an alien rampaging downtown before letting her suit materialise and shooting up into the air.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened nor would it be the last time it happened, Lena had gotten used to it by now. She remembered in the early days since Lena forgave Kara, that Lena felt a stabbing pain whenever it happened. It reminded her about Kara’s betrayal and that Kara might not be who Lena thought she was, however, as she closed the gap between Kara Danvers and Supergirl, that feeling went away. Now when she saw Kara shoot off into the air, when she saw the S on Kara’s chest, Lena couldn’t help feel lucky that someone as amazing as Kara cared about her (although Lena always felt that to some degree but the feeling was stronger).

An hour passed since Kara left, Lena hadn’t heard anything from the blonde. She didn’t dare turn on the news, afraid at what she might see. She remained calm, there was a chance that it was just taking longer than normal to deal with this particular alien. Conner seemed slightly worried, she could see as much by the little crinkle on his forehead. So, she distracted him (and herself) by starting to bake cupcakes.

Another hour passed and Lena couldn’t keep the worry from invading. The image of Supergirl after she was almost killed by Reign still seared into Lena’s brain. Still, she wouldn’t turn on the news just in case it was bad news. It was impossible for Lena to take her eyes off her phone, praying that Kara’s name would pop up to tell her that everything was okay and that she didn’t have to worry.

However, it was the other Danvers Sister’s name that appeared on Lena’s phone half an hour later. Lena’s heart dropped as she reached to answer the phone, her hands shaking slightly. All of this had been too good to be true and something awful had happened. “Alex?” Lena couldn’t hide the way her voice shook.

“Hey, Lena.” Alex sounded drained and she took a breath before continuing. Lena really wished that she hadn’t because in that time her brain was able to come up with a million different awful situations. “Kara’s fine, well not completely fine. She’s blown out her powers, but she’ll recover.”

Lena felt a weight lift off her chest. “What happened?”

“The alien was a bit tougher than we expected, they ended up brawling near a school, so Kara had to exert a bit more strength than normal to finish up the fight quickly. She collapsed a bit after we got there and she’s only just coming to.” Alex explained and Lena took in the information.

After some back and forth, Kara convinced Alex to let her go home, or at least to Lena’s which is where Kara basically lived now. As soon as she was dropped off and let into the house, Lena pulled her into a tight hug which Kara melted into. They just remained like that for a few moments, both enjoying the comfort they only got from the other.

They pulled apart slightly, the hug not broken but there was a distance between their faces allowing for their eyes to meet. Everything went quiet and the universe felt balanced. Maybe it was the relief that Kara was okay, that Lena could hold her into her arms, the fear that one day something really bad could happen to Kara. Or maybe it was because everything was leading to this since their eyes first connected so long ago. However, no words needed to be spoken between them.

Who moved in first, maybe they both moved at the same time, but it didn’t really matter. As they met in the middle. It felt like they had both opened their soul to the other. Lena could really describe the feeling; it was like tasting love. It was like catching Kara’s smile in a bottle, with all its softness and sweetness. With every brush of their lips, Lena felt her soul entangle with Kara’s. It was only them in the whole universe. Lena wasn’t sure if they were levitating off the ground, but it felt like it (of course, they weren’t as Kara had blown out her powers).

What she was feeling couldn’t be put into words, no word or figure of speech had been invented to describe how it felt to kiss Kara Danvers after all this time. But if Lena had to try, she’d say that when their lips touched, fireworks went off in her stomach and it felt like the sun was running through her veins warming her every cell.

When they broke apart, their foreheads pressed together and Kara’s arms wrapped around Lena’s waist, whilst Lena’s were around Kara’s neck. “I love you, Lena Luthor.” Kara breathed out like it was the easiest thing she’d ever said. A soft smile on her lips and her eyes not leaving Lena’s for a moment.

And Lena couldn’t help but reply, “I love you, Kara Zor-El.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin.  
> Thanks for all the support.   
> Peace.


End file.
